


Instincts Are Annoying

by FlorDeDesierto



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha Stephen Strange, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Omega Tony Stark, POV Alternating, Scenting, Slow Burn, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange parenting Peter Parker | Supremefamily | Strange Family, no freaking five years later, only Thanos died, only a month or two
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2020-01-23 21:16:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18558013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlorDeDesierto/pseuds/FlorDeDesierto
Summary: Alphas and Omegas are almost extinct.Tony and Stephen wished they were completely extinct. They wouldn't be in such predicament facing stupid instincts leading their lives.Were they really leading their lives though?akaTony and Stephen go through the process of discovering the implications of their nature.





	1. Instincts can be ignored

It wasn’t a sunny day. It was cloudy and his mother forced him to wear an uncomfortable coat that didn’t let him move his arms as much as he wanted, but he decided to not complain; something about his mother’s worried face made him stay quiet.

And his fever had something to do with his quietness, too.

She told him they were going to see Doctor Brown. At the age of ten years old he didn’t like going to the doctor, their medicine were ugly and the vaccines were awful, last time they used a needle to get some of his blood. But he did like Doctor Brown, he was kind, patient and always gave him a candy at the end of every visit.

Tony looked at Doctor Brown’s face while the man examined him and the little boy resisted the urge to reach and try to straighten all those wrinkles by stretching his flesh. He usually did that with Jarvis.

Doctor Brown stopped the examination and started to talk quietly to his mother while holding some papers in his hands. He didn’t understand anything, and he absolutely didn’t memorize the difficult words and terms they used to talk.

The only thing he remembered was “He’s an omega” and “Please, don’t tell Howard”.

Tony looked at the gray sky that day. He felt sad, and he didn’t even know why.

He just knew there was another reason to get his father’s disappointed face.

………………………………..

“You’re scaring the animals,” the voice of his father sounded behind him.

“I didn’t do anything” Stephen scowled getting out of the horses shelter where he was stroking one of them a moment ago.

“Well, you should do something for once. Here,” his father gave him a bucket and a brush, the message obvious.

Stephen took them, pouting and frowning. His father was jealous of his ability to make the animals submit giving that he was just eleven years old. It wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t even trying. If the animals respected him more, what was the problem? He should get advantage of that ability and put him to work with the animals, but no, he preferred giving him stupid chores like scratching the floors and walls.

He briefly wondered how would it be to live in the city.

……………………………………..

He was 16 when his mother explained him what being an omega meant. Seemingly, he was almost unique. Something about a very ancient nature that defined men and women’s behavior.

He didn’t like the definition, in fact, he _despised_ the definition of being an omega, because apparently, it meant he had to be submissive and let himself be submitted by a so called _alpha_. According to Doctor Brown’s explanation, omegas and alphas were almost extinct and most of the people, normal people, were betas.

Tony didn’t have to worry though, Doctor Brown said that meanwhile he didn’t get in contact with an alpha, activating his omega instincts was very difficult, and that even if he did, he would likely be able to ignore those instincts since the nature nowadays was not as strong as ages ago.

That said, Tony did everything in his hands to be exactly the opposite of that nature.

No one would submit Tony Stark.

And just like that, Tony went through his life until he became a hero, Ironman.

…………………..

“Your perfume is sweet”

The woman, who for some reason appeared everywhere Stephen walked as if she were following him, turned towards the doctor with a big smile.

“Thank you,” she said somewhat eagerly, disposed to return the compliment, “your perfume-”

“It’s _too_ sweet” he pointed out with an annoyed tone, erasing the smile from the woman’s face, “I don’t like it. I’m sorry, I don’t want to be rude, but the smell is too strong and it’s causing me nausea,” Stephen said with a tight very false smile.   

The woman (maybe she was a doctor too, he didn’t care) glared at him offended and walked away without another word.

“You’re an asshole” Christine told him frowning at him, “Her perfume wasn’t that bad and it wasn’t strong. I could barely smell it”

Stephen shrugged, calm now that he could finally _breathe_. Ugh, that perfume was cheap and gross, how could Christine not feel it?

He decided to ignore and forget about it to concentrate on the group of important doctors that attended the gala with him.

………………….

Tony was having his first meeting with his colleagues as the group now called ‘The Avengers’. Just now, sitting with everyone at the table, surrounded by very strong people, he allowed himself to wonder if any of them were an alpha.

He inhaled the air, not sensing anything else than the smell of cleanness of the room. He smirked to himself. He liked it that way.

He ignored what the Captain was saying in order to text Pepper to meet for dinner later.

…………………..

Stephen still had a hard time digesting the fact that he went from being a successful neurosurgeon to being a sorcerer who trained hand to hand combat and learned spells, but he was captivated by all the fascinating knowledge he was given - and not given but taken anyway ( _Sorry, Wong_ ) - that he didn’t really care about that haunting thought at the moment.

Although, right now he was feeling a little uncomfortable by the piercing stare The Ancient One was sending him while he was trying to meditate and find ‘his center’ or whatever that meant. Maybe Wong the traitor gave him away?

Or maybe he was just making the meditating position wrong and she was judging him.

“You are an alpha,” she finally said after a moment of deep observation, with that calm voice and calm expression that sometimes made Stephen nervous.

Stephen frowned at the statement. He wasn’t familiar with the term, he just remembered it from some documentaries about wolfs that said that the head of the pack was called “alpha”. He suspected she didn’t mean it like that, but maybe she was referring to being a leader?

“Thank you” he said nodding, not wanting to give away that he didn’t know what she was talking about. He hated not knowing things.

She smiled. That little smile that meant ‘I know something you don’t’ Stephen disliked so much.

“You don’t know what it is, do you?” she asked sweetly.

The nerve.

“I will if you tell me,” he answered like that every time he didn’t know something.

The Ancient One shook her head in a disappointed way and Stephen wondered what he did wrong. He assumed it wasn’t that bad if she was still smiling.

“It doesn’t matter right now. But I’m glad to know that someone special might exist for you. The battles are fought with the heart when we have something or someone to fight for”.

Stephen frowned again. What battles? He wasn’t there to fight any battle, he just wanted his hands back.

………….……

Tony left Peter at the door of his home.

 He ordered Happy to keep an eye on him.

And listened everyday to Peter’s messages sent to Happy’s interfered phone.

After all the events with the kid following that, he suddenly frowned at himself when he realized he might have said a couple of times something his disapproving father would… but he’s been this whole time acting like his _mom_ would.

He ignored that thought and added a parachute to Peter’s suit.

……………….

“Dormamu! I’ve came to bargain!”

He faced death again. And again. And again.

He didn’t think, he didn’t stop to consider his own wellbeing.

He vaguely remembered the Ancient One’s words about someone special for him, and remembered Christine, the only person he had left, walking away.

“Pain is an old friend”

_It’s not about me._

…………….………

Tony was thrilled and full of energy. For the first time after so many nights, he had a good dream.

He dreamt about family, calm days, happiness, and decided that that was what he wanted.

He told Pepper about it excitedly, waiting for her reaction, for her approval, wanting to know if she wished for it as much as he did.

Pepper just shook her head and looked at him like he’d grown another head.

He couldn’t blame her though. He knew she was scared of his life as Ironman, but then he just needed to prove that there was nothing to worry about.

“Tony Stark” Tony startled, ending his kiss with Pepper. Before his eyes landed on the source of the voice, his senses spiked up all of the sudden, a peculiar scent invaded every fiber of his being. And there it was, a man whose eyes shone incredibly under the light of the sun, “I’m Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me”.

Just when he felt Pepper holding him, Tony snapped out of his trance. Pepper’s action seemed to get the other man out of his own trance too.

“Oh and, congratulations for the wedding, by the way” the man said with a hint of humor, as if trying not to be rude but being totally rude instead.

So Tony managed the situation just how he always did when he faced something unknown:  With sarcasm.

“I’m sorry, are you giving out tickets to something?”

The situation got darker quickly and Tony forced himself to ignore all his instincts screaming inside him standing in front of the mysterious man.

He had never felt this way before. Never. And he was surprised he was able to recognize it for what it was.

 _An alpha_ , he concluded, nervousness piercing his core.

He listened attentively to the explanation about the stones. This wasn’t the right moment to worry about his status as an omega in a society that right now had a population of two people. But he couldn’t help but wonder if the wizard felt it too.

 _Ugh_ , he groaned internally at the display of colors and sparkles in front of him, _great, more magic and stupid tricks_ , he thought resentfully.

The other man didn’t seem to be affected… or was he? Tony started to feel the atmosphere heaver. Was it because of the situation or was it the alpha’s doing?

He noticed the alpha standing close to him. Bruce and the other sorcerer remained at a discrete distance. The alpha didn’t.

The taller man stood immovable in front of him, facing him with all his body, like trying to subdue him. Maybe it was just Tony’s paranoia, but it still made him nervous. He felt his instincts telling him to submit, which made his conscious side to decide to do exactly the opposite while avoiding eye contact with the man and, at the same time, acting like he didn’t care about his presence by leaning on a vase and stretching his leg.

And the wizard slapped his ass.

Well, he slapped his feet but touched his ass in the process so… HOW DARE HE?

Tony jerked at the action and turned, finally facing the man properly, drinking in every detail of his face and his imposing posture.

He wanted to snarl at him, but his annoying instincts were jumping happily inside of him for the undivided attention.

“I’m going to allow that” he decided to impose his dominance over his instincts, like ‘I didn’t allow it because I’m an omega but because I don’t want to kill you in front of these people’.

The asshole didn’t even blink.

 _Those cheekbones should be illegal,_ he groaned internally and changed the subject quickly, suggesting to destroy the freaking gem on the spot.

“No can do“.

Tony swallowed, suppressing a whine. What the actual fuck was going on with him?! The man just had a deep voice, it was nothing out the ordinary. He’d heard deep voices before!

He had more important things to worry about. Like having to deal with a group of wizards who had sworn undying loyalty to a piece of rock according to the statement the guy just-Wong just made.

Great. A bunch of fanatics.

The solution was simple for Tony, and it made him anxious knowing that people were not willing to cooperate. So, he did what he always did to calm the waters: A misplaced joke.

When he mentioned ice cream he expected to be yelled at and scolded for going from a serious situation to a mere comparison with a desert. He was used to it, with Pepper, with Rhodey, with Fury, with Steve, etc. _‘Is everything a joke to you?’_

“Stark raving hazelnuts”.

The wizard had tried his flavor?

“Not bad?” he asked too quickly for his liking.

“Bit chalky” the man judged calmly.

What?

He heard just-Wong saying their favorite was the hulk flavor and Bruce asking about it and Tony couldn’t believe that he was the one who had to return to the serious subject in hand. Since when people just played along with his sarcastic commentaries? These wizards were weird!

The discussion went on until he was standing face to face with the alpha having an argument.

“What is your job exactly besides making balloon animals?” Really, he didn’t know anything about a bunch of wizards until now, what did they do for the world?

Strange paused for a second, an amused little smile forming on his face, as if he found his question very ironic.

“Protecting your reality, _douchebag_ ”.

Tony had been insulted throughout his life, in so many ways with so many names, but he couldn’t remember the last time someone insulted him with that tone, a not actually malicious tone. The sorcerer made implicit the fact that he did something important Tony clearly didn’t know about, including the word ‘your’ to make sure that Tony understood that he was included on the list of people he had protected and _was_ protecting right now.

Tony inhaled furious, his feelings becoming a confusing hurricane inside him. He had imagined many times a stupid brainless alpha trying to subdue him with strength and aggressiveness, like he read on the few articles he found on internet. He had imagined himself blasting a shot to their face to show them who was the boss…

But this alpha wasn’t doing anything, he didn’t shout back at him, he didn’t use his power, he wasn’t coming for his neck… and yet he was dominating him anyway, just by standing there, with his presence, with his demeanor and calm attitude. It was even worse than what he had thought because he didn’t even have an excuse to explode the asshole’s face.

“Ok, guys. Let’s just-”

Bruce’s voice got him out of his trance. Oh, right. The stones and Thanos.

Minutes later, after a brief internal fight with his own mind trying to bring himself to call the man who hid the fact that his parents were brutally murdered, wind started to fill the room and Tony turned around, searching for Strange’s eyes instinctively. His stupid hair was moving.

……………….……

The man walked outside the Sanctum, and Stephen rushed to follow him closely, his stupid instincts to protect him kicking in.

“You might want to hide that stone, doc!”

Hide? As if.

He vaguely heard Stark talk to his AI to evacuate the perimeter, as he made a spell to clear the area.

He knew he was being a show off (The Ancient One would slap him in the head) but he didn’t care. Tony Stark, who happened to be an omega and freaking Iron Man, was in front of him, looking at him impressed. So he had to wink at him.

He had to, ok?

Of course, being kidnapped by an alien with the time stone on his neck wasn’t something he could brag about.

………………

The living cape had Strange’s scent all over itself and that didn’t improve Tony’s mood.

And having the kid in the alien ship made it just worse.

He was tired of not being listened to. But of course, if those who supposedly were his friends couldn’t listen, then how could this man, who barely knew him, listen to him?

He did, though.

And Tony was slightly startled by it.

Strange listened to him. He didn’t interrupt him anymore. He didn’t question him any further.

Tony didn’t know how to feel about it and he distanced himself from the man immediately, walking towards Peter. Yes, the statement about letting him and the kid die for the stone bothered him, but he understood the sorcerer’s position.

After minutes calming himself, he decided to approach the alpha and stand next to him in front of the principal window. He folded his arms as a wary gesture, but with the weird feeling of safeness and calm. He wondered if it was his senses reacting to the alpha or the man himself.  

“Thank you” Tony muttered.

“What for?” Strange sounded genuinely confused.

“Listening. I normally need more effort to convince someone. This was a first”.

“You don’t have to thank me.” Strange assured, “Your arguments were valid and I just promised to let you die if needed” he paused for a moment to look behind, making sure Peter wasn’t close, “I’d wish the kid wasn’t here”.

“You are not the only one” Tony huffed, “And I understand your position with the stone, don’t worry. Actually, I’d ask you to let me die if it means to save the universe”.

Strange nodded, “If I’m killed you don’t need to worry, the spell of a dead man is strong. Maybe the lapse of time of him trying to break the spell will even give you a chance”.

“Sacrificial much, uh?”

The sorcerer let out a chuckle, “You started”.

“You were the one who said you’d sacrifice us for the stone, wizard,” Tony reminded him, not really accusingly.

“I said 'if it comes down to it'” Strange stated firmly and looked at Tony’s eyes for the first time in the conversation, “It doesn’t mean I’m willing to let it come down to it,” he said, a serious expression on his face.

A planet was in front of them.

………………………..

He decided to use the time stone to look into the future, to search a way to win. It all was fast, but clear enough for him to understand the events that leaded to each end.

The first face he saw when he came back to the present was Tony’s face. The face of the man who he saw giving his life so many times.

The man who was the key to win.

When he saw that one future where they finally won _and_ Tony was alive, he decided to stop looking.

He didn’t need to look for more alternatives.

He’d protect the man at all costs.

………….………………….

“Spare his life and I’ll give you the stone”.

Tony looked up at Stephen. Even hardly breathing, he could see the sorcerer’s resolution in his eyes.

“Don’t!”

Stephen pulled the time stone out of the stars. To save him.

“Tony… there was no other way”.

…….………………….…..

Stephen found himself in a different place. Peter Parker and the Guardians of the Galaxy were standing in front of him, their faces terrified while they looked at themselves, confused by the feeling of emptiness mixed with consciousness.

He hugged Peter who was trembling and talked to him to calm him down. He talked words of encouragement to the guardians, too, soothing them with his serene tone.

“They’re going to save us. Let’s trust them.”

……………………………..

Tony mourned the kid. His kid.

‘It was so real!’ he had said after dreaming with having a son.

 _No_ , he thought looking at the picture of him and Peter holding a certificate of Stark internship, _It wasn’t a dream, I already had a son._

“Tony?” Pepper entered the room.

“I’m fine” he managed to say without looking at her.

Pepper observed him for a moment.

“No, you’re not”

………………………….

They came back. Tony did it. He knew he could.

But the battle was not over, all the heroes that were back from the ashes faced a chaos where those who stayed after the snap were at the last of their strength.

 It was their turn to fight and give the last blow.

And so, Thanos was finally defeated.

All the people started to look for their beloved ones, to run to them, to hug them and hold their lives between their arms.

Stephen looked around, appreciating the picture in front of him. From the other side of the street, Wong nodded his head and disappeared through a portal towards the library under his care. Stephen stayed a moment longer.

He spotted Tony hugging Peter. The other heroes hugged their friends, their families.

Stephen’s smile disappeared slowly and he couldn’t help looking at his hands. He had to get back to the Sanctum.

He felt a gentle touch on his face and let out a little chuckle. The Cloak used to caress his cheek to comfort him, and unlike other times, right now he truly appreciate it. He gave his Cloak a short stroke on the fabric on his shoulder and then turned around to open a portal, now feeling better.

His duty was the only thing he needed to hug right now.

He ignored the piercing instinct that told him to approach Tony Stark and take him in his arms. It was ridiculous.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have always wanted to explore an Alpha/Omega AU. Hope you liked the start!


	2. Awakening the instincts

Stephen grunted frustrated while placing another book on the third pile of books he had on the table. The sound attracted the attention of his friend (finally, since he’d been ignoring him so far).

Strange hadn’t wanted to say anything about the subject because it was kind of (very) embarrassing, but he gave up. He needed help with his predicament.

“Wong, do you know which books have more information about alphas and omegas?” he did his best to sound casual.

Wong’s usually impassive expression stumbled suddenly.  

“Why do you need to know that?” the other man asked, approaching cautiously.

“Uhm, because I’m an alpha,” Stephen knew that Wong’s alarmed face didn’t mean anything good, but he chose to use a carefree tone. After all, the Ancient One hadn’t made a fuss about it when she discovered it, why should he? “I think it'd be prudent to know more about it.”

“You’re an alpha?” Wong looked at him dumbfounded.

“Yup,” Stephen continued checking the next book, ignoring Wong’s latent panic.

“And you’re finding out just now?” Wong asked incredulous.

“No, the Ancient One told me years ago”.

“And you’re looking it up _just now_?!”

Ok, Stephen was starting to worry. Why was Wong so distressed about it?

“She said it wasn’t important,” Strange assured warily, “Well, not important _at that moment_. I was very busy and just left the fact aside, until Odin reminded me of it.”

Wong frowned at the mention of Odin, waiting for a further explanation. Stephen rolled his eyes. Why couldn’t Wong just give him the book without asking for details?

“He said he could recognize an alpha easily,” he remembered his encounter with the man very well. How could he not? Odin demanded a goblet of beer and freaking _broke_ his precious cup of tea. “Apparently, there used to be a lot of alphas millenniums ago on Earth, and they went to battles to fight bravely by his side. He also asked me to be gentle with his beloved kids…” Yeah, as if, “Whatever, the point is that he mentioned it and I made a research after that. I only found a little book though.”

Wong frowned at him, observing his attitude carefully, “You say it like it’s not relevant at all.”

“Because it’s not,” Stephen guaranteed, “My whole life was very normal, those ‘wild instincts’ the book talks about never happened.”

“But you want more information right now,” Wong started looking at him suspiciously, approaching slowly with the clear intention to decipher Stephen’s expression, “It means something _happened_ , something _changed_.”

Stephen looked away rolling his eyes. His silence was answer enough.

“Strange, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

Stephen swallowed and his jaw tensed, “I… might had an encounter with an omega,” he looked up at the other man, “Tony Stark.”

Wong’s only reaction was a contemplative silence. 

“The odd part is,” Stephen continued, making a thoughtful pause, “it’s not the first time I find an omega.”

The other sorcerer frowned, “It’s not?”

“Years ago, I went to a gala. There was a woman with a scent that was very strong and sweet. It made me nauseous,” he looked at the ceiling remembering, “Thinking about it carefully, I’m sure she was an omega.”  

“And what about Stark? He makes you nauseous?”

“I can’t stop thinking of him,” the sorcerer declared with increasing exasperation, not looking at his eyes, “It’s a desperation buried deep inside my core about to explode. I… I feel restless. I can’t sleep. I don’t want to eat. I can’t concentrate on my missions”. He had tried meditating. The serenity given by constant meditation and self-control was what kept him from jumping Tony the first time, but now he wasn’t having much progress to keep the engineer out of his mind.     

Ugh, It’d been four days already since he last saw him, but he could still feel his sweet, minty, wild scent in his nose…

He was going mad.

“Is it that bad?”

Stephen turned bodily to look at the other man as if he was the most stupid being on the planet.

Is it that bad? _Is it that bad?!_

“I spent two hours just looking at his cute face on the internet yesterday to calm myself!”

Wong blinked at him.

“You think he’s cute?”

Stephen just stared astonished waving his hands pointlessly in frustration, “I was being sarcastic! Would you stop the questions and help me?!”

“You’re irritable” Wong pointed out narrowing his eyes.

“Thanks, mister obvious! Of course I’m irritable! I need to concentrate to do my job right!” he already knew his hormones were going crazy, thank you very much.

Wong started to search through the bookcases calmly, “You didn’t do anything wrong on your missions.” He commented meanwhile.

“Yet!”

The older sorcerer stopped for a moment and looked at Stephen meditatively, “Are you sure you didn’t just fall in love?”

“What?”

“Here.” Wong gave him some books and walked away, ending the conversation, “Read them. And just so you know, I want to be kept as far as possible from this alpha and omega subject, understood?”

 _Gladly_.

_______________________

“What are you doing?”

Tony startled a little when he heard Pepper’s voice. He had his hologram screens displayed and was very concentrated reading the articles a second ago, “Remember the man at the park?” he asked casually while the woman approached, “He was a neurosurgeon. There is no photos of him as a wizard.”

He’d been doing research. He found about his profession, the accident and his status on Hydra’s list of threats. It was a wonder how the doctor managed to become a magician after being a man of science.

“Is there something you’d like to tell him?” Pepper asked softly, standing next to him.

Tony sent her a quick glance before returning his eyes to the screens. What was she implying? He had always investigated about people around him. It was nothing new. “No, I was just curious.”

Pepper hummed and didn’t say anything for a moment, but then she pointed out “You’ve been looking at that same photo for more than twenty minutes”.

Tony blinked surprised, but kept his eyes on the photo of the man standing proudly in a three-piece suit after a medical conference. He hadn’t noticed the time passing, “I was just trying to decide which one is uglier, with goatie or without goatie?” he asked jokingly, waiting for Pepper’s opinion.

He was trying to change the subject; he didn’t like the implication of Pepper’s statement, especially because she didn’t know the _implications_. She didn’t know he was an omega… a very curious and kind of charmed-by-an-alpha omega.

Tony covered his face with one hand, letting out a frustrated sigh. Of course his instincts reacted to the other man, but that didn’t mean that would control his actions. His heart belonged to the woman beside him.   

“You’re worried about him” Pepper observed.

She was very smart. And she was right. He was worried. He couldn’t sleep for days thinking of the sorcerer’s lonely face while he turned around to leave the battlefield, as if he didn’t deserve gratitude as much as the rest of the heroes. The image still pained his heart.

“I’m sure he’s okay," he said dismissively, "balloon animals are not that dangerous.”

Pepper smiled at him in that I-pity-you way of hers. It was obvious she didn’t believe him.

“You should go talk to him” she suggested giving him a pair of pats on the shoulder and left the room.   

So, that was how days later he ended up where he was now…

177A Bleecker Street.

Tony inhaled deeply while standing in front of the door. Should he really be here? Maybe the wizard was busy. The implication of Strange saving the world from unknown invisible threats still haunted his head; it was very difficult to grab the idea of bad things happening without him knowing and being able to help somehow.

No, wait, he was _retired_. He´d promised Pepper that his battle with Thanos was his last battle. They´d even prepared a public announcement for the next week. 

He wasn’t going to back away from this visit though. All of the heroes gave their best in the battle, including Stephen. The asshole deserved some recognition. There was nothing wrong in visiting him and say _Thank you for your help, you antisocial weird wizard._

He knocked the door and it opened almost immediately.

Tony jolted at the strong scent invading his senses all of the sudden. Alpha, right. He had almost forgotten about that part.

Before him stood Stephen Strange, wearing casual clothes like a normal person. It was… an oddly pleasant sight.

The man remained petrified in front of him. Obviously he wasn’t expecting seeing Tony any time soon.

Tony took a deep breath again to calm himself and… oh gosh, _big mistake_. His lungs filled with the Alpha's perfume and he almost chocked.

“Hello!” he forced himself to smile and sound unaffected, but his voice came out more like a pathetic whine, “Somebody ordered a pizza?” he asked jokingly, holding up the pizza he'd brought.

“I did!” he heard a voice coming from behind Strange. Tony´s eyes widened immediately recognizing the person.

“Kid?” he asked surprised when the young avenger peered over the sorcerer´s shoulder.

“Oh! Mister Stark? You work as a pizza deliverer?” Peter looked genuinely confused.

Stephen let out a chuckle, “He was just trying to be funny,” he said smirking, not taking his eyes off Tony.

Tony pouted, lowering the pizza, _Trying?_  

The sorcerer gave him space to get in and Tony couldn’t help his curiosity towards Peter being there so casually, “What are you doing here, Peter? “

“Visiting Doctor Strange!” he answered looking at the pizza with great interest.

Hunger was obviously eclipsing Peter's attention so the engineer decided to direct his inquisitive eyes towards the doctor.

“I didn’t know you two were… acquaintances”.

Strange smirked obviously noticing Tony's tormented thoughts. It wasn't something small for Tony seeing the boy in that haunted house, because: One, If Peter was in New York City, Tony should be the first person to know and be visited; and Two, magic was still in red zone for him, and having the kid close to it was unnerving.

“How can I help you, Tony?”

Tony narrowed his eyes. Of course the smug jerk would choose to keep the information from him to deliberately annoy him. _Of course._

Stark rolled his eyes. He will press for details later and however it takes, “I brought pizza,” he informed, not satisfying Strange's curiosity either.

Strange raised an eyebrow, “Thank you?”

“Sweet! We'll have even more to eat!” Peter celebrated, “I'm going to get the glasses for the soda!” the boy ran and disappeared behind a wall.

“Wait!” Tony called him, then turned to look at Stephen visibly alarmed.

“Don't worry, he knows where the kitchen is and the Cloak is watching him, it doesn’t like when people mess with magic artifacts. It can keep him from trouble” Strange assured calmly, that didn’t appeased Tony's mind though.

“How do you know? The kid could use his puppy eyes and do what he wants”.

The sorcerer smiled, “The Cloak of Levitation is a magical relic, not a person. I'm its chosen master, therefore I'm its only true love. It won't fall for Peter's charm, although it would be funny to see him try”.

“Don't underestimate that kid's charm, I did and it didn’t go well” Tony huffed.

Strange chuckled, and the fact that the gesture suddenly calmed his increasing worry highly unsettled Tony. Stephen's scent was… very odd. It wasn’t a specific perfume, but a mix of perfumes registered in Tony's brain causing a bunch of sensations. It was… like hot coffee just made, like donuts just baked, like humid earth after a sweet rain in the middle of a sunny day in spring. It made Tony feel like he was sinking into hot springs after a very laborious day.  

Overwhelmed by the feeling, Tony averted his eyes quickly, holding his breath as most as he could to avoid the scent at least for a moment. He cleared his throat under the intense gaze of the sorcerer and left the pizza on the small table in the middle of the living room. He stood in front of the sofa, “Can I sit here or is it going to eat my soul?” he asked, half joking, half serious.

“Go ahead” Stephen nodded and sat at the other extreme of the sofa, the effort to keep his distance very plausible.

There was a minute of uncomfortable silence between them, none of them daring to mention the elephant in the room. 

Tony cleared his throat and opened his mouth to say something, but Stephen talked first.

“We're going to watch a movie. Peter's idea” he informed.

Tony snorted, “Please, tell me he didn’t choose Alien.”

Strange let out a laugh, “God, no”.

“Here!” Peter went back with three glasses.

“Peter, are we going to watch Alien?” Tony asked curiously.

“God, NO!!” the boy said totally scandalized, making both men laugh.

“Do you even have a TV?” Tony asked Stephen looking around. Why were they settling there if there were no TV to be seen? Was he going to do some mumbo jumbo?

“I don’t, I’ll just summon one” Strange said and then waved his hands weirdly. A big TV appeared in front of them.

_So yeah, mumbo jumbo it is._

“Cool!” Peter exclaimed fascinated.

Tony frowned, why was the TV turned on? And showing a Pokemon episode, of all things…

“Strange, what the fuck?!”

Peter and Tony startled when the new voice reached their ears. Strange stilled “Oops,” the sorcerer said innocently and with a huff he stood up to turn and face another furious master sorcerer.

The small bald man with Asian features glared up at him.

“Good evening, Master Chen” Stephen greeted.

“Good evening my ass, stop stealing my TV!”

Strange held up his hands as a peace offer, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were using it”.

“Why did you even-?!” Master Chen finally noticed the other people in the room and stayed silent for a moment, flickering his eyes from Tony to Peter, his rage melting all of the sudden. After a moment of consideration, the man looked at Stephen again, “Fine, I’ll let it pass this time. You need to spend more time with your family,” he nodded to himself and walked away.

Strange tensed and his cheeks reddened a little, “Uhm, they-” he tried to explain, but the other master ignored him.

“I want my TV back by the morning!” he said disappearing through a portal.

Strange cleared his throat and decided to ignore the event in order to sit and watch the movie.

After thirty minutes of Jurassic Park I, Tony was almost trapped in the realm of dreams. He felt the atmosphere very calm and familiar, with Peter's occasional exclamations and Strange's smart remarks to every inconsistent scene; it was all very domestic, which was even worse with the Alpha's luring scent in the air. It was a very busy week and he barely got a good sleep, so now with this feeling of safeness and familiarity, he suddenly felt his body giving up to the pleasant sensation of dullness while closing his eyes and-

“Dude! How dare you sleep on Jurassic Park?!” Peter exclaimed making him jump.

“Peter, let the old man sleep. It's not his fault he's going senile”

Tony let out a groan while sitting straight, “Says the gray haired man”.

“My hair is gray due to side effects of magic”.

“Woah, really?!” Peter said impressed.

“That's not true! I saw your photos as a doctor!”

He realized very late what he just said and regretted it immediately.

But instead of taking offence, Strange smirked at him, pleased. Why was he pleased?

They finished watching the movie and Stephen sent Peter to his own room through a portal. The boy said goodbye happily before disappearing.

Stephen offered Tony to open a portal for him, but the engineer refused. Also, he wanted to help clean up before leaving. He used the occasion to start with the subject he came here for in the first place, "You just left, that day” he said while drying the glasses.

It took Strange a moment to understand what was he talking about, “I needed to protect the Sanctum. After what happened, the world was vulnerable to interdimensional attacks.”

 _That's why he looks tired then,_ he thought, cursing the lack of right to ask for details about those attacks, “We had a shawarma party after the chaos” he said instead.

Strange huffed a silent chuckle, “I didn’t have time for that,” he said, not looking at Tony, focusing on putting the trash in the dump, “Also, I’m not really a member of any of the groups, it would have been uncomfortable for the team to have me there.”

“Peter asked for you,” Tony informed oddly eager, “Quill asked for you. Thor asked for you. Bruce asked for you,” he paused when Stephen landed his eyes on him looking genuinely surprised, _I asked for you_ , “You’re not as stranger as you think”.

Stephen smiled and Tony felt it like his biggest victory of the day, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know I’d break so many hearts,” he said sarcastically, but the sparkling in his eyes was a louder signal.

He decided to take the opportunity the change of mood gave him, “So, what was the kid doing here?”

The sorcerer smirked at him, “Visiting me”.

Oh, he was going to punch that smug face, “Strange” he said warningly.

“I followed an interdimensional monster to Queens. It wasn't a big threat,” he assured quickly enough to put down Tony's worries, “Obviously, Peter got in the middle, and the monster buried him with its… saliva. It was gross, poor kid was hysterical” he chuckled, “We came here to clean ourselves and he asked for my phone number,” his expression darkened suddenly, “He said he had some concerns and questions about… the soul stone, and the experience he lived there,” he took a moment before continuing. It was palpable the way the subject upset him, too, “He calls me every time he needs to talk. I open a portal for him every time because this kind of things need to be managed in person. This is his fourth visit”, Tony's eyes widened. Fourth visit? It had been just two weeks since the battle with Thanos!

“I… I didn’t know that. He didn’t say anything to me about it” Tony said sorrowfully.

Strange read his expression rather quickly, “Please, don’t hold it against him. He knows how busy you'd been, and he doesn’t want you to worry more than necessary. It's not really a big deal, you know, he's very strong. He just… wants some answers, and someone to share that suffocating experience with. The guardians don’t live here so I'm his only option” he shrugged smiling a little, fondly, “he talks a lot about you. He really admires you and loves you, but he makes his own decisions, and if he decided to keep this from you, you have to respect that and understand his reasons. The least we want is to give you another thing to haunt you,” _We?_ “Don’t think he wouldn’t tell you something when it's really important. You're one of the few people he truly trusts”. 

The engineer held his breath. This man was… unbelievable. He just told him Peter was hiding something from him but at the same time managed to make him feel _not bad_ about it.

Tony's eyes full of awe must have taken Stephen aback, so he changed the subject, “Then he wanted to watch a movie. Jurassic Park was a good option.”

Tony swallowed getting out of his trance and decided to play along, “You're lucky he didn’t get you to watch Sponge Bob with him.”

They both chuckled, relaxing a little, “I didn’t have a chance to say this, but…” Tony stilled, waiting anxiously. Was he going to say what he thought he was going to say? “Thank you, for saving us all” Strange said sincerely.

Oh, that.

“Everyone did their part” Tony just shrugged.

“But you were essential”.

Tony smiled faintly at the compliment and nodded accepting his gratitude.

Maybe it was for the best, not to mention it. That 'alpha and omega' joke was stupid and the sorcerer seemed to think the same since he wasn't jumping him like those savages he had read about. He was clearly a smart man.

But…

But part of him, precisely that stupid omega part of him, wondered if the Alpha was just ignoring the fact because he didn’t… feel anything… because his scent wasn’t good enough for him…

 _Fuck_ , Tony rubbed his temple and groaned. This was so wrong! He was getting married soon! He wasn’t supposed to feel like this for a man he barely knew just because he smelled good!

When Tony opened his eyes again, he let out a little gasp when he found Stephen standing so close to him, watching him with a worried expression.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes!” he stepped back quickly, putting some distance between them, “It's just… I realized it's late, and I got something to do, so I have to go” he blurted out. 

Strange nodded, not very convinced, but he didn’t say anything else and just walked him to the door.

“Thanks for the visit, Tony”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” the engineer said eagerly, with the intention to counter his own feelings by forcing himself to say it out loud, “I’ve already invited Wong, but now you are invited to my wedding, too” he said smiling.

Strange stared at him in silence, his expression very hard to read, but after a moment he offered a little smile and nodded.

“… Thank you”

_________________________

When he opened the portal the noise of sirens and shouts filled his ears.

There was a big beast in the middle of the street, waving around its massive metallic tentacles, destroying everything on its way and letting out a shrill scream…

The poor creature was so scared.

“Master Strange!!” he heard voices calling him and he didn’t need to look to know who they were.

_Those incompetent idiots!_

He landed in front of the three apprentices who were supposed to take care of the Sanctum in his brief absence. One of them quickly explained how they heroically put the people to safeness and nobody died.

“I told you to call a master for help if there was a problem!” he scolded.

“But Iron Man came to help!”

_What?!_

A blast sounded suddenly and Stephen flew closer to find the supposedly retired avenger in his armor, shooting blasts at the creature, making it angrier.

The tentacles started to emanate a blue light.

“Tony! Back off!”

The man didn’t listen to him.

“Everything is under con-”

A tentacle hit him, and even if the previous attacks were very weak compared to the strength of his shield, this time the force of the hit was absolutely stronger accompanied with the burning sensation of being electrocuted inside his armor.

Invisible magic held him in midair just before the imminent impact with the ground. Stephen's powers landed him carefully and safely.  

“Okay, I might back off a little since you insist that much” Tony groaned after retracting his helmet.

“Are you alright?” Stephen asked with some panic. All his senses were on high and his hands were trembling more than usual. That attack was in self-defense, it wasn’t that strong, otherwise it would have killed Tony.

“Fine, fine” the engineer said dismissively.

“Stay here” the sorcerer ordered and levitated towards the creature.

He waved his hands and summoned a magical golden lasso. It didn’t take much for him to immobilize the beast with the energy he knew would work on it to reduce its strength.

The monster screamed and struggled against the magical rope. Stephen floated in front of it and the creature directed its attention to him.

“Easy. I just want to send you home” he assured strenuously.

The beast stopped struggling, looked at him with its big seven eyes, sniffed twice with its three nostrils, and then it chirped submissively.

“What the fuck?!” he heard one of the students shout and Stephen rolled his eyes.

“That's right” he focused on the creature again and gave it two pats on one of its tentacles, “No need to be scared, I'm a friend,” he turned to look at Tony. Oh sweet innocent Tony, still on the ground, adorably gaping at him. He turned towards the beast again “Don't hurt him again, please” he asked, but at the same time he ordered.

The creature let out an apologetic squeak.

Good, that was enough for him.

It took him ten seconds to send the creature back to its own dimension. It was easy, but it was exhausting too, considering the amount of energy he needed to cast that spell. That was why it was better to calm it down first to make his job peacefully.

It also helped him that the creature recognized him as an Alpha. It was an advantage he discovered he had with animals, whose instincts were as primitive as his condition. Creatures of other dimensions were no different.

He flew back to where Tony was. The man was now without armor but still gaping.

“Really? Just that? One stroke and becomes your pet?” the engineer asked incredulous.

Stephen felt very proud of himself internally for impressing the Omega, but put the feeling aside in order to concentrate in more important matters, “You're hurt. That blow carried an inimical magical energy. I need to treat the wound”

“It didn’t-” any retort was cut out when Stephen lifted his shirt to show the flesh of his side shining blue, “Okay, that's not normal”.

Stephen turned to look at the apprentices, “Find someone to help you clean this mess. I have to deal with this” he tried to carry Tony in his arms, but the man didn’t allow it.

“Hey! That's not necessary, I can-” he shut his eyes hard, feeling suddenly dizzy. His legs failed and Stephen caught him. The sorcerer took him in his arms this time without complaining coming from the engineer, just resigned groans. “But, let's go to the Compound, please, I can't deal with magical things around me right now”.

Stephen noticed clearly the enormous effort of the man to keep himself from panicking. He understood how difficult it was for him to deal with the unknown.

After given the exact address, one of the students opened a portal to the Compound and Stephen stepped through it quickly.

The place was empty, maybe Tony knew that? He placed him on the sofa and got his shirt off. He started working immediately, placing his trembling hands on the affected flesh and casting the right energy.

Tony startled at the first feeling of the magic touching him, he let out a hiss and then exhaled, calming himself. Stephen could feel his scent changing, the omega was scared a moment ago, now he sensed an amount of trust. He concentrated completely on the work, watching attentively how the blue marks started to disappear.   

He saw the mark go erased completely, but he was so nervous he continued for a moment longer just to be sure enough. Just then he dared to look up at Tony, who was staring at him intently. He quickly took his hands away.

“How do you feel?” he asked tentatively, giving him space to let him sit up properly.

 Tony let out a long breath, relieved, “Better” he said smiling, “Good job, wizard”   

“Tony?”

Both of them startled at the third voice and turned to find Pepper Pots standing in front of them.

Stephen forced himself to stand up slowly, not knowing how to interpret the woman's expression. She looked _betrayed_.

“Pepper…” Tony started carefully.

“You promised, Tony” she breathed out, her eyes filling with tears.

“Pepper”

“You promised!” she shouted furiously.

For a moment, Stephen didn’t know what they were talking about. Did Tony miss a meeting or something? If that were the case, the reaction would be a little exaggerated.

“There were people in danger!” Tony retorted desperate to make her understand.

_Oh._

Tony was supposed to be retired.

“There will always be people in danger! You're not supposed to do this anymore! You had done enough! But you still go and fight monsters!” Tears ran through her face, “You're not a super soldier, you don’t have powers, you are not immortal! You're only human, when are you going to understand that?”

“Stephen is only human, too, and he still does what he has to do”.

Stephen turned to look at Tony with wide eyes. Why was he part of the conversation?

“He has powers!”

Tony went from pleading to being angry, “A moon thrown at me did nothing because I have an armor! Throw a moon on him and see how it goes! I just do what I need to do!”

The woman couldn’t take it anymore and just shook her head, letting out a sob, “You promised” she whispered and turned around to leave.

Tony turned around too, in the opposite direction and left the room. Stephen resisted the urge to go after him, to comfort him and take care of him. He stood there for a moment in silence, contemplating what just happened.

Then he left, wishing that Tony could give this a solution. He deserved happiness.

A week later, the news about the breakup of Tony Stark and Virginia Potts were everywhere. 


	3. Suppressing the instincts

__________________________

Tony was tired. He spent two difficult weeks going through one of the worst times of his life.

He had fucked up. He had ruined the only chance he had to live the happiness he wanted so much.

Pepper had left. He’d convinced her to stay as the CEO of Stark Industries, but he wasn’t able to achieve anything else.

_“I’m sorry, Tony. I can’t do this anymore”_

He’d tried. He’d tried to make her understand that he was able to change, to leave it all to build a life with her and have a family, but he hadn’t sounded convincing, not even to himself.

How could he just look to another direction knowing what was at risk? He was trying to protect _her!_ To protect the world where _she_ lived! Why couldn’t she understand that?

_“There are other heroes, Tony!”_

He knew what Pepper needed, what she wanted. He _knew_. But it was so difficult for him, so difficult to just give everything up, so difficult to stand aside waiting for the rest of the heroes to act and save the world when he was still able to help.

She didn’t understand.

So she left. And he let her.

She was right. She deserved better. She’d always deserved better.

“Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice got him out of his tormenting thoughts, “Doctor Strange is at the door of the compound requesting to enter”.

“What?” Tony asked confused, and FRIDAY repeated the request, not taking it as the rhetoric question it was.

Tony huffed. He didn’t want to see anyone. It wasn’t like he blamed the sorcerer for what had happened, but he was tired of the pathetic concern, the halfhearted support and the advices full of pity of his friends and colleagues, and he was not in the mood for more of that.  

Whatever, he should go and see what he wanted. Maybe the wizard came to see someone else. It was just him in the compound right now, so he’ll just inform Strange that.

Through the cameras, he saw the sorcerer standing at the door. The man was looking around, trying to find any kind of activity.

Tony smiled a little at his impatient shuffling. The exasperate face of the doctor was amusing.

He pressed the button to activate the microphone, which made a _beep_ close to the sorcerer, alerting him.

“Hello?” Stephen said reluctantly, as if afraid of looking like an idiot for talking to nothing, and Tony smiled again.

Then, the engineer cleared his throat, suddenly aware of his current expression. He put a hand on his mouth, subsiding his smile, erasing it. He was not supposed to be smiling, he had no reason to smile.

“You could have just portaled yourself inside,” Tony grunted tiredly.

Stephen narrowed his eyes towards the point he thought that was the camera. It wasn’t. “You never gave me the authorization to do that”.

Tony rolled his eyes. A polite gentleman, huh?

He let him in and asked him to wait for him downstairs.

The mechanic took the stairs, not the elevator. He decided that that would give him some time to recompose himself a little before facing the doctor. He didn’t want more pity, so he needed to look less miserable than he was.

While approaching, he was already reached by the Alpha’s scent.

 _My, I’ve missed that scent so much._ He thought stopping and leaning on the wall, allowing himself to enjoy his body relaxing for the first time in weeks, thanks to the doctor’s perfume.

A moment later, he shook his head. What the hell was he doing? He just lost Pepper, the love of his life, and he was there behaving like… like an _omega_? That was unacceptable.

With firm steps and the stoned decision to show himself unaffected, the engineer reached the floor, and he found the sorcerer there, stroking DUM-E.

_Wait, what?_

“You’re very interesting,” the man was stroking DUM-E’s arm as if it were a dog, and the robot was beeping enthusiastically at him “Can you talk? What’s your name? Pretty sure you have a funny name. Hope it’s not MONDAY”.

Tony refused with all his being to think the wizard was an adorable dork.

“You’re talking to a robot” Stark stated crossing his arms and leaning on a leg with an exasperated expression.

Stephen turned smirking. That indicated that he already knew he was listening, “Shouldn’t I?” he shrugged, “It looks… sentient”.

“It’s just a piece of junk,” Tony snapped bitterly, willing to let the sorcerer know that he was not in the mood for funny business.

Taken aback, Strange stared at him, studying him for a moment, and Tony shuffled a little uncomfortable at the intense gaze. Was that an alpha gaze to scold omegas for ‘misbehaving’? 

The alpha turned towards DUM-E when the robot lowered his metallic arm letting out a long sad beep. “Don’t listen to him, SUNDAY. He’s a douchebag”.

Tony blinked. Really? That wizard was _naming_ his robot? “It’s _DUM-E_ , not SUNDAY”.

Stephen snorted and turned to him again, chuckling “Really? _Dummy_?”

“DUM-E! And you don’t see me naming your Aladdin carpet so you don’t get to do it with my bots either”

“It’s a cloak” Stephen corrected sternly. He said that the same way he corrected people with ‘ _Doctor_ Strange’, “The Cloak of Levitation” he said with high dignity.

Tony put his hands on his hips and snorted, completely forgetting about the surly emotions he was supposed to be emitting, “Cloakie suits it better”.

The cloak on Stephen’s shoulders flapped, utterly offended.

“No? Then, what about Levi?”.

The flapping got even more enraged.

“Tation?”

“Cloak of Levitation” Stephen hissed severely.

The sorcerer’s annoyed expression made him smirk mischievously. Tony shook his head in disagreement, “Too long. What if you need its help in the middle of the battle urgently?” then he impersonated someone struggling, mimicking Stephen’s deep voice “‘Oh, please, help me, Cloak of levita-AGH!’ _dead_ ”.

At that point the other man was chuckling totally amused, “Geez, you are so insufferable”.

Tony just continued, his eyes lightening up at a new idea, “What about Col?” he said pointing with a finger, “It’s perfect and it doesn’t sound like a dog name”.

Stephen hummed, like he was actually considering it, “Mmh, that doesn’t sound bad. Isn’t it… _Col_?” he smirked at his cloak, and the response was fabric all over his face pushing him. The sorcerer chuckled again, “I’m just joking, calm down”.

And once again, Tony found himself smiling, and the realization hit him like a splash of cold water. He looked at the ground and forced himself to sober, “So,” he started, getting Stephen’s attention again, “How can I help you, doc?”

He saw the sorcerer noticing the sudden change in his attitude, but he didn’t say anything about it.

“With this,” Strange waved his hands and a head-sized crystal rock glowing blue appeared. Tony kept himself from snarling at it. He was so done with stupid magical rocks, “It’s a crystal I found from another dimension. Utterly volatile.” The engineer quirked an eyebrow at him. Really? Utterly volatile? And he still handled it as if it were a simple beach ball? “I thought you could build a special container for it. The crystal is accumulated energy. The energy confined in it is very similar to your arc reactor’s”.

Tony blinked “Oh,” so it wasn’t a magical rock, it was an _element_ , “Sure,” he said, this time approaching and eying the crystal with interest, “I can get Bruce to help me with it, too”.

“Thank you,” the sorcerer smiled gratefully, “let me explain you the details”

Strange proceeded to explain how he found the crystal, how the crystal had formed, and his plans for it to keep it from evil usage. But Tony had a hard time paying attention to any of it.

His mind was a swirl. A moment earlier he was contemplating the idea of letting himself die on the battlefield in the next mission just to end with his misery, and the next moment he found himself smiling and willing to work on a next project with an enthusiasm he shouldn’t have right now. Was it his hormones reacting to Stephen’s scent or some shit like that? This wasn’t normal… ok, maybe it _was_ very refreshing to see that Stephen wasn’t there to pity him or scold him about his wellbeing like his friends and colleagues had been doing during the previous days. Instead of being irritating, his presence was comforting, calming, and it made Tony feel warm and _protected_. He came smiling, initiating the usual banter between them, and asking for help. Tony _loved_ to help, he loved to be useful.

And yet…

And yet that need to help others was what made him end up alone again.

“Tony?” the Alpha’s voice snapped him from his thoughts. He was staring at him with concerned eyes, “Is everything clear?”

“Yes,” Tony answered quickly, stepping back and putting some space between them. This wasn’t right, he didn’t deserve this calmness, this comforting, “Friday took note of everything, isn’t it, baby girl?”

“Done, boss” the AI replied.

“Ok,” Stephen said, eying him unsurely, “I’ll come back to see the container, when can I come?”

Tony turned around, pretending to do something with cellphone, avoiding the piercing blue eyes that were on him, “Give me three days and it’ll be ready. I’ll ask Bruce to help with it,” he talked drily, a clear indication that it was time for the other man to leave.

Stephen got it, “Thank you. See you later, Tony”.

He didn’t know if it was the hormones getting on him or the fact that he’d been concealing his overwhelming feelings so far and the only beam of light he had in days just left. His eyes watered while the loneliness of the quiet room wrapped him.    

_Stay, please._

__________________________

To say that Stephen felt restless was an understatement. It was extremely hard for him to leave the compound that day. To leave _Tony_.

He felt it. He _smelled_ it. His senses were running wild at Tony’s flickering scent. It was so odd how the man seemed fine one moment, and the next moment bitterness reached Stephen’s nostrils like a desperate call for help. He used all his strength to restrain himself from going and hug him to comfort him and keep him safe. Geez, that would had been so weird.

He did everything to stay calm, trying to transmit that feeling to Tony, but apparently it didn’t work. He understood that Tony was upset about the breakup with Miss Potts, but what left him confused was the sudden transitions of his moods.

He really hoped to find Tony feeling better today.

“Tony?” he called stepping into the Compound through a portal. Stark had called him to inform that the container for the crystal was ready.

“He is in his lab, Doctor Strange,” FRIDAY’s voice informed him and gave him indications to get to said room. He thanked the AI and proceeded to go.

When he was reaching the door, he immediately smelled Tony’s scent. He smiled at the feeling of excitement coming from the perfume.  Maybe Tony felt better now after all.

“Hi,” he greeted with a smile when he saw the engineer, and he found utterly adorable how the man perked up at the sight of him and his voice.

But suddenly, the emotions in Tony’s eyes were blacked out, and Stephen stopped dead at the realization that the man _forced_ it, “Hey, doc. Came a little late. Bruce left some minutes ago”.

Stephen approached slowly, frowning at him with inquisitive eyes, “Isn’t it ready?” he decided to ignore the mention of Doctor Banner.

Tony’s eyes went to the box made of iron, “Yeah, it’s ready”.

Stephen walked until he was next to him, and Tony taking a step away didn’t go unnoticed, “So, how does it work?”

Tony was still avoiding his eyes, clenching his jaw, obviously troubled, “It’s better if Bruce explains it to you. He will be back in two hours, so you can come later,” he turned with the clear intention to leave the room, “I have a headache and I need a coffee. See you”.

Stephen stood there, watching Tony leave, while a pure feeling of impotence invaded his senses. His body hardened and his fists clenched painfully as realization hit him.  

This wasn’t about Tony being miserable, it was about Tony _deciding_ to be miserable.

He couldn’t help it. Alpha and person in him _snapped_ , “Stop it, Stark”.

Tony immediately stopped in his tracks. He turned around slowly, with an expression of disbelief at the other man’s tone of voice. “What?”

Stephen didn’t even blink at the warning look on the engineer’s face, “Stop being pathetic. It’s annoying”.

This time, Stark frowned deeply and snarled with contained rage, “ _What?_ ”

“You are being pathetic” Stephen stated firmly, “You’re seeing things wrong if you think you should be crawling like a worn in your self-pity like you’re doing right now.”

Tony walked towards him, quickly and ready to jump at his neck. He stopped in front of him, face to face.

“What do you know?” he hissed, his eyes full of fury, “How dare you come here and assume how should I feel and how not?! How could you even understand how I feel, what I’m going through?!”

The sorcerer remained calm, “I do understand. I had someone, too. The only person left who ever truly cared for me,” he let out a sad sigh at the memory, “In the middle of a battle that decided the destiny of our world, I asked her to stay with me,” he looked deeply into Tony’s eyes, “She didn’t.”

Tony snorted, letting out a bitter chuckle, “Can you even compare? Have you spent years with her? Have you wished to start a family with her? To have children, to be happy by her side for the rest of your life?”

Stephen shook his head, “The amount of time doesn’t have anything to do with this, Tony. It’s about her decision. You can go forward knowing-”

“Of course!” the mechanic interrupted outraged, “It must be easy for you, oh big Alpha!” Stephen’s eyes widened at that, “So wholesome and proud by himself! Doesn’t need anyone by his side! What a surprise!” his voice came out satirical.

Stephen’s jaw clenched. He felt like he had been stabbed. His eyes watered but he shallowed the tears. Oh, how he wished, how he wished his alpha nature would had spared him some pain that day. But it didn’t.

Despite himself, what he said next wasn’t his agony talking, he wasn’t trying to hurt Tony, he just wanted to make him understand…

“Well, it’s not a surprise either that you want children, it’s in your nature after all, isn’t it, _Omega_?”

He had expected it. The hard fist hitting his jaw.

It didn’t mean it hurt less though.

He was on the floor now, trying to subdue the pain putting a trembling hand on his face. He was glad he hadn’t taken the cloak with him, it would have certainly attacked Tony in his defense.

His eyes looked up at Tony, just in time to see him go from pure anger to realization (that Stephen didn’t mean it, that he was just trying to make a point), to regret.

“It was her decision” Stephen continued, standing up on his feet, “You have to see it from her point of view to understand.”

Tony let his tears fall and his voice cracked, “Don’t you think I don’t know that?” he shook his head. “I know she left to save herself from the chaos that is my life. I know I am the problem”.

Stephen’s body tensed at the heartbreaking sight, all his instincts were pulling him to hold the other man in his arms, but he wasn’t in the position to do that. He limited himself to a soft voice and kind eyes, showing Tony the tenderness he needed, “There it is,” he whispered, “That’s where you’re wrong. She did it for herself, but she did it for you, too. Think, Tony. How do you feel every time you run to save the world, leaving her behind? Do you feel right? Do you feel like the hero you are? Do you feel special and essential? Because that’s what you are; but instead, you feel guilty, you feel the worst person when you leave her while she begs you to stay, to come back.  Ironman is part of who you are, she has no right to take it from you, and she knew it.”

Stephen didn’t know if his words were doing any difference, but Tony was looking at him intently, so he decided to continue and share something from himself.

“Christine left that day and, after days of thinking about it carefully, I’m glad she did. She didn’t deserve that life, a life where she would always worry about me, a life where she wouldn’t be able to understand why it has to be me who goes to risk myself, a life where she couldn’t follow and would be left behind. It hurt seeing her leaving, but that doesn’t mean I’m to blame for that, because helping others is part of who I am and I wouldn’t trade part of who I am for a simpler life where I would feel incomplete, like I’m not doing enough. I’ve made a decision, too. The world needs me. I have a purpose, and while I fulfil that purpose I feel that I’m doing the right thing.”

The sorcerer took a deep breath, he frowned and his eyes hardened while looking at Tony, this time with the intention to lecture him.

“You’re one of the strongest man I’ve ever known, Tony, and I’m not talking about physical strength or your armor, I’m talking about you as a person. So stop forcing yourself to be pathetic just because you think that suffering is what you deserve and that this is how normal people should handle the pain, you are not normal people, you are Tony Stark. You are Iron Man”.

He turned around and walked away, not giving Tony the chance to respond.

He opened a portal, not looking back, “Call me when you put yourself together”.

 

 

 

Two days after that, Stephen thought he had made a mistake. He was so worried he couldn’t even sleep properly. The Cloak was making sure to force him to bed though (the relic was frantic when it saw his jaw bruised and looked like it wanted to murder someone, so he had to relent).

  

But then, later that day, he received a call.

When he answered, this was the first thing he got:

_“You are an asshole”._

Stephen held his breath when he heard Tony’s voice and smiled despite the halfhearted insult.

“Okay” he said calmly.

 _“I can’t stand you”_ , the engineer snarled.

“Right”.

_“I hate you”._

“Alright”.

 _“Shut up”,_ he heard Tony taking a deep breath, _“Come here to see the fucking container, you asshole. I didn't work on this for nothing"._

Stephen let out a chuckle.

“Ok, douchebag”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Col is so done with life, lol *gets fabric-slapped*


	4. Feeding the Instincts

Stephen rushed into the library, obviously agitated. When Wong looked at him he didn’t get worried though, because he knew the difference between Stephen’s ‘there is a problem that might end the world’ face and Stephen’s ‘there is a problem that is annoying me and doesn’t really concern you but here I’m to bother you with it’ face.  

And Wong just knew what it was about.

 “Wong, I have a problem,” Strange stated with a hint of exasperation.

Did Stephen remember Wong asking him to keep him away from his ‘Alpha and Omega’ problems? Yes. Did Stephen care? No.

“You are a problem,” Wong simply replied glancing back at the book in his hands.

Stephen ignored the dismissive tone, “I need money,” he announced grimacing, as if waiting for Wong to say something against materialism.

Wong decided to save his efforts, “And why is that?”

Stephen hesitated for a moment, looking at the ground, totally ashamed. He took a deep breath before answering, “Tony is not eating well and I must feed him”.

There was silence.

And silence.

Stephen could hear his own breathing.

“Excuse _you_?” Wong asked, looking at the other man as if he went completely nuts, “You want to buy food for a man that literally can buy any restaurant in this city? Are you listening to yourself?” 

“Wong, you don’t understand. I know it sounds ridiculous but-!” Stephen paused and then resumed quickly, “It’s… it’s this stupid thing with the instincts! I can’t just _shut_ them! I can’t even concentrate on reading or casting new spells! What would happen if there is an attack?” he paced around the room, “I’ve been reading the books about Alphas and Omegas that you gave me. There, it says that the Alpha makes sure that the Omega is healthy. Otherwise, the Alpha is a failure,” he explained frustrated, “I feel like a _failure_!”

Wong let out a grunt. He didn’t know if it was the alpha or the person in Stephen, but he was highly aware of the man’s nature regarding failures… He hated failure. And he wouldn’t be in peace until he gets the damn thing right. That, mixed with the instincts that he was recently experiencing, was a dangerous combination.

He didn’t have more option than to support him somehow. It was better to subdue these things before they get out of control.

“Aren’t you a doctor?”

Stephen blinked. “Yes, but I’m supposed to be dead for the society,” he said rolling his eyes, and in the process his eyes landed on something that was kept on the top of a bookcase. “Wait, I know what to do,” he proclaimed walking to the bookcase and took the skin bag stored there, “I can sell these,” he grinned victorious.

“Strange!” Wong reprimanded almost scandalized, remembering the content of the bag. 

It contained one hundred little spheres with the size of pearls, made of gold. 

Stephen glanced at him innocently, “What?”

“That was a gift from the Corsaiders!”

Stephen nodded. He wouldn’t forget that. He was the one who helped those interdimensional creatures after all, “And I’m going to honor their gratitude by spending it on something useful”.

“Buying food for a billionaire stubborn man is something useful?”

Stephen titled his head with a bored expression, “No. Buying food for a billionaire stubborn man _in order_ to avoid going insane is something useful”.

And he left.

Wong let out a groan.

………………………………………………………………..

Tony walked calmly through the park after Happy, very reluctantly, had left him there. He had dressed as casual as possible to not get any attention towards him. The last he wanted was ruining Peter’s visit to the new museum. 

He was on time but had no rush since the kid had called to say he was going to be some minutes late for their reunion.

He was walking distractedly, watching a dog running after a ball, when suddenly the soft breeze brought a peculiar scent to his nostrils. He stopped, looking up.

Yes. There he was, sitting on a bench, in casual clothes too, reading something.

The Alpha.

In an attempt of calming himself, Tony took in a deep breath and… shit, he really had to stop doing that because it caused the opposite result while filling his lungs with the Alpha’s smell. _Ugh_ , he rubbed his face.   

It had been three weeks since that argument in his lab. After the punch he gave Stephen and after the verbal, emotional slap he received in return, he couldn’t find in himself to root away like he was planning to do after the breakup with Pepper. Stephen was right, he needed to put himself together, for those who he loved more than for himself. 

Then, calmed down, he had had the first heart-to-heart conversation with Pepper, and he realized how much her happiness meant to him, and how much his happiness meant to her, and how both of them had been selfish; him, wanting for her to accept every part of him, and her, waiting for him to give up a part of him.

 _“I know you are willing to die for me, Tony. For the world we live in, and for the Universe where we exist. You had so many reasons to die,”_ she had said shakily, with tears in her eyes and a sad smile on her face, _“But I wished to be the reason you wanted to live. I wished… I could have the power and willing to fight by your side and protect you every time, but I don’t share that part of your soul, and I will never do it. I helped once, waiting for everything to end and finally have my happy ending, but I realized this has no end,”_ she had looked at him deeply in his eyes, _“because it’s part of you.”_

She was happy though, to see him accept that truth. Because that’s what he did, he had accepted the heavy truth of her words, of _Stephen’s_ words, and let himself make of this his decision too, for her sake and his own, to keep her precious love and friendship in his life like it should be.

Then, he had called Stephen.

He had almost let out a distressed whine when he saw the sorcerer’s bruised face, his impulses had tried to push him to reach and caress the jawline of the man and beg for his forgiveness while his instincts shouted angrily at him for having hurt the Alpha like that.

Of course, he had ignored all of that and just acted as normal as possible. He did apologize though.

_“Yeah, sorry about that one. But purple looks good on you”._

Ok, maybe he didn’t apologize properly and the cloak seemed about to jump and strangle him (or that’s what he thought when he saw the thing tense like containing itself from doing something), but he tried.

Various meetings with the sorcerer followed after that, and he started to enjoy the Alpha’s presence, more than he should, if he was honest with himself. 

He couldn’t lie. The thought of what could have been being married to Pepper and have a family still hurt, so, even if he wasn’t isolating himself from the world or rooting in a corner not allowing himself to smile, he did spend a lot of time clearing his head in his lab, working on every new project that came to his mind.

He could survive with only coffee, really, he _could_. But then the asshole had started to appear in his lab every two days with food (actual food) on his hands.

_“And so, this is the device the criminal was holding. It’s better that you store it here,” Stephen said putting the thing on the table._

_But Tony was barely listening since the smell of food invaded his nose and the engineer stared suspiciously at the bag Stephen was holding, “What is that?”_

_“Oh,” Strange looked at the bag like he had forgotten it was there, “Lasagna,” he looked up at Tony again, his eyes lighting up as if he was expecting something “It’s from Castel di Sangro”._

_“What?” Tony’s eyes widened, that was his favorite restaurant in Italy, but it couldn’t be, could it? “Italy?”_

_“Yes,” Stephen smiled and sounded victorious for some reason. The sorcerer made a pause like mentally preparing himself for something, “Want some?”_

_Even if Tony’s mouth watered and his chest swirled at the thought of accepting food (one of his favorite ones non less) from the Alpha, he refused “No, thanks. I’m good”._

_“Oh,” Stephen’s face fell at that and Tony’s entire body itched to take back his words, “I’ll have to eat alone again, I guess,” he said with a tight sad smile and turned to leave._

_“What’s wrong with eating alone?” Tony asked quickly, relaxing when that made the sorcerer stop and face him again, “I like eating alone. No one steals my food. All mine. No sharing”, and it was true, unless it was a party or event full of food, but he’d never share from what he had proclaimed as his own. He only shared some of his snacks when someone said something intelligent just to make a point like ‘here, take a berry, bro, you deserve it for having a brain unlike the rest of these idiots’ but no more than that._

_“I like sharing a meal with people who have at least half of a brain,” Tony blinked. Was this wizard reading his mind? “Come on, it’s getting cold”._

_“I’m not really-” Tony’s stomach growled and his cheeks turned pink at the amused face of the sorcerer._

_“Your mouth says no, but your body says yes,” Strange said with a smirk. Tony pursed his lips. In other occasion he would have made a sex joke with that but he suspected the cheeky bastard was going to enjoy it instead of being annoyed by it so he restrained himself. For some reason he felt that the one more flustered about that joke would end up being himself._

_“Fine,” he accepted, feigning exasperation._

_After that, the sorcerer came with food (his favorite ones, so he couldn’t resist) again and again, and he wasn’t able to refuse those soft eyes asking for company. He discovered that Stephen was one of those people he’d share his snacks with, he did enjoy their conversations full of banter, smart exchanges and knowledge._

_Also, he was hungry._

He cleared his throat and walked towards the man, swallowing his nervousness when the sorcerer looked up at him suddenly, obviously having caught his scent too.   

He approached while looking around nonchalantly, avoiding those piercing eyes, “Hey, Doc,” he greeted with his hands in his pockets, standing next to him. He finally looked back at the sorcerer just to find those sky blue eyes on him. Tony held his breath.

_Damn, those eyes under the sunlight are going to be the death of me. I hate this guy._

Strange offered him a little gentle smile, “Stark,” he greeted back.

Tony looked away again, gazing around the place, “So, are you here having a walk or Peter invited you too and didn’t tell me?”

“Peter didn’t tell you, apparently,” Stephen shrugged, “he said he was going to be a little late”.

Tony raised an eyebrow at the familiarity between the sorcerer and the young superhero, he was still on the road of getting used to not being the only adult hero figure in the spiderling’s life, “That he did,” he nodded and took seat next to the sorcerer, at a respectable distance, careful not to touch him… 

And still, he found himself reaching with his hand and touching Stephen’s collar.

He internally cursed himself for being so tactile, “Is this real or just an illusion?” he asked casually to justify the touch. Stephen didn’t tense nor flinched away from him; he never did.

“It’s real,” replied the doctor, “but I could change it into my robes with magic, if some emergency presents”. 

Tony hummed and proceeded to give the other man two pats on his shoulder before forcing himself to stop touching him, “Shame. It would be funny to see you doing your boom boom woosh while wearing civilian clothes”.

Stephen turned to look at him bemused, “My _what_?”

“You know,” Tony did some exaggerated gestures with his hands, “ _The_ boom boom woosh. That ‘I’m Doctor Stephen Strange, Protector of the Stone and Your Reality, I speak for myself, FEAR ME’ boom boom woosh,” he chuckled at the sorcerer’s frowny face, “Really wanted to brag, huh?” 

The sorcerer sniffed and looked away a little embarrassed. “The performance to invoke my magical shields is absolutely necessary, unlike you doing your reversed-striptease with the armor. It should be called _armortease_ ”. 

Tony blinked. And then he gasped, offended “Armortease?! I…! It’s nanotech!”

Strange looked back at him, smirking smugly, “I saw you forming your armor in a blink. That first time, though, you did it _slowly,_ deliberatively,” for some reason, the sorcerer’s eyes roamed up and down Tony’s body.  

“You winked at me!” 

Ok, that wasn’t the best excuse. It was like admitting that he was responding to the flirting.

“I didn’t, I had some dirt in my eye that time,” Stephen denied stubbornly. 

Tony folded his arms, “But you still could perfectly see my ‘armortease’, huh? You should keep your _dirty_ _eyes_ on the enemy like the professional hero you are supposed to be, Doctor Strange”.

Stephen chuckled at that, his eyes tinted with mirth, not minding the accusation at all. 

With such a blatant conversation, Tony was reminded that, since the first time they met, they both had recognized the other as Alpha and Omega, but they didn’t say anything about it so far through a pacific and deeper talk.

So, yeah, Tony decided that he was ready now. 

Ready to talk about the elephant in the room. That big elephant that had been tormenting his overloaded mind.

“So, doctor,” he started, catching the sorcerer’s attention, “Let’s talk about it”.

Stephen lifted an eyebrow at him, as if he didn’t know what he was talking about, but Tony could notice some recognition (and amusement. _The jerk_ ) on his face. “It?” 

“Yes,” Tony hissed impatiently, “It”. 

Stephen nodded in agreement, “I think the clown’s hair was stupid,” he opined.

The sorcerer chuckled when Tony glared unamused at him. The mechanic wondered if his omega-self would be bothered if he punched him again.

“Ok, let’s talk about it.” the sorcerer said sobering, “You are an Omega,” he started.

Tony rolled his eyes, “I already know that”. 

“I’m an Alpha,” he continued. 

“Yes,” Tony huffed with impatience.

Stephen leaned closer looking at him in the eyes, “Your scent messes with my brain and I have to resist the urge to jump you and ravish you every second you’re close,” he declared with seriousness and a husky voice. Tony’s eyes widened and gaped at him like a fish out of water, with a red face. What the fuck?! “That’s what you’ve read, right?” the sorcerer smirked leaving all seriousness behind and chuckled at his face.

This time Tony didn’t restrain himself and elbowed him on the side. The sorcerer chuckled even more. That wasn’t funny!!

“Look, you don’t need to worry,” Stephen assured, “I don’t plan to use my ‘alpha nature’ on you. It’s actually easy to deal with it”.

Tony crossed his arms and leaned on the back of the bench, “Is it?”

And what were exactly those things the sorcerer had to deal with? He never saw him struggling in front of him about anything. He looked unaffected by him. Actually, that annoyed him a little.

“Well, there are things that might make us restless, and even sick. We just need to be careful with it,” he explained, “We don’t need to… _jump_ each other, like said on the few articles of the internet. There are ways to calm our _primitive impulses_ ,” he paused, looking unsure to continue, but he decided to do it anyway, looking a little ashamed, “We can do it with little things. For example, more often than not, as an Alpha, I feel the need to…” he stopped and cleared his throat, not looking at him.

“To what?” Tony insisted, eager to know.

Stephen grimaced like the words alone infringed him a physical pain. His face reddened a little, “to feed you”.

Tony blinked, processing what he just heard, and finally, everything clicked. A big teasing grin appeared on his face and Stephen let out a groan, “Are you serious?!” he laughed, “That’s why you always bring food? So you’d been pretending to casually buy it on your way all this time? You were _alphaing_!”

“It was just four times,” the sorcerer grumbled embarrassed.

“You’ve been _feeding_ me!” he continued laughing, bending over. 

Stephen glared daggers at him, “Shut up. I didn’t hear you complaining,” 

“I was just making you a favor! Also, you brought my favorite things! How did you even-? Oh, wait! You’d been reading those pointless gossiper articles about me, hadn’t you?!” he laughed again, absolutely delighted. It was not just funny; it was so _endearing_ to imagine the man going through the trouble to get the food the Omega liked. His insides were churning in bliss and he didn’t even know if it was the omega or just the man in him.  

“Uhm, it sounds creepy when you say it like that,” Stephen rolled his eyes, “The point is, it won’t do any good to suppress it, no matter how stupid we feel. And believe me, I feel very stupid, I mean, why should I feed Tony Stark, the billionaire?” he said unamused. 

Tony sobered and decided to spare him more humiliation, “So, how do you know so much about it?” 

“I have some books. I can lend them to you, if you want,” Tony nodded as a response. He hadn’t really wanted to know about the subject, especially because he hadn’t suffered effects from his condition as an Omega, but that was until he met Stephen and, given the circumstances, he needed to be informed about it to know what to expect. Stephen stared at him with curious eyes, “Have you had any impulse?” 

Not wanting to give himself away with the weird things he’d been feeling for the sorcerer since day one, he did what he did better… deny it, “Mmh, no. Seems like I’m more capable of fighting my impulses,” it was Tony’s simple and proud answer, making the Alpha frown, “Let’s make it clear, I don’t want to be your little submissive Omega. _Anyone´s_. I hate being one, so any sexual action is out of question, got it?” 

Strange nodded solemnly, “As you wish”.

“Because I don’t even like you that way, no offense,” he added quickly.

Ok, that was a big lie. He did find the doctor very attractive and his personality endearing, also that scent of his played with Tony’s hormones. But that was just because he was an Alpha, right?

The sorcerer stared at him for a moment, all amusement erased from his face, “I don’t like you that way either,” said Stephen flatly.

Tony frowned at that, and suddenly all the bliss from before disappeared. His chest twisted in a disturbing way. 

He ignored the sensation though. Obviously his omega side was bothered by that statement, which was stupid. “Good. Glad we’re clear on that.” 

Stephen nodded, “Good”. 

“Good” Tony repeated, this time grumpily.

They both sat straight, looking away from each other. There was a moment of awkward silence. 

Then, Stephen’s phone rang. The sorcerer took it out of his pocked to check.

“Peter says he’s close,” he informed.

But Tony wasn’t even listening to him.

“What the _fuck_ is that?!”

Strange startled at the scandalized shouting. He turned to find Tony glaring at Stephen’s phone with utter disgust.

Stephen blinked, “A cellphone?”

Tony glared at him this time, distraught and repulsed, “That’s not a cellphone! That’s a piece of trash!”

Stephen rolled his eyes, “It’s just a Samsung”.

“No. Hell no. I’m going to give you a Starkphone right after the visit to the museum,” he declared firmly.

Stephen frowned at him, “I don’t need another cellphone, Stark. I don’t want-”

“ZIP IT!” Stephen shut his mouth, a little scared, “This is not for _you_ . It’s for _me_ . I, the _Omega_ , _need_ you to have a fucking Starkphone because that shit over there offends me! And you, the _Alpha_ , are supposed to please me!”

Strange looked at him incredulous, “Are you always this drama-?”

“You said it! Calm the little impulses to keep the instincts on check, and _this_ is my impulse right now!”

“Ok, ok!” the sorcerer accepted, mostly because Tony seemed ready to jump at his jugular, “But I’m not going to throw it away right now, all my contacts are there”. 

“Hello, guys!” finally, Peter appeared running towards them, “Sorry for the delay! There was a-” he stopped and looked at them frowning in confusion, “What’s wrong?” 

“He has a _Samsung,_ ” Tony hissed sulkily, with crossed arms. Was he aware that he was acting like a child? Yes. Did he care? NO.

Peter laughed at that knowingly and then they proceeded to start the journey.

The young hero approached Stephen when he had the chance to whisper at him, “He did the same with my cellphone. It means he likes you. He doesn’t give a Starkphone to anyone”.

……………………………………………….

Tony didn’t give a Starkphone to anyone indeed, and obviously he didn’t get offended with any person by the lack of it…

It was only with those that he considered his friends.

So Stephen felt a little honored, even if he snorted when the engineer shoved the phone into his hands and started to explain the applications of the device.

The next meal they had together was surprisingly normal, and Stephen was very glad for it. He had thought that the issue with the ‘Alpha and Omega’ subject was going to wane the amenity of their encounters. 

He hadn’t really planned to speak with Tony about the matter in order to keep the Omega away from any kind of discomfort, but since it was Tony who brought it out to light, Stephen was relieved for having the chance to be completely honest with him from now on. It was a weight lifted from his shoulders. 

Stephen had to admit it. The Omega saying that he _didn’t like him that way_ struck him hard in the guts. His Alpha side had howled pathetically inside him and it was, well, _pathetic_. To be honest with himself, as a person, he hadn’t liked that statement either. He was mature enough to acknowledge that he was attracted to the other man. He found his looks, his smartness and his personality utterly endearing.

But that didn’t matter and he decided to swallow all of it. He valued Tony’s friendship greatly and that friendship was enough for him, he would never burden the engineer with other feelings that probably had their origin on his Alpha nature. Also, he had made the resolution to win against his instincts as much as Tony apparently did too. They both liked control. They both liked the power to choose.

And _now_ Tony chose to eat tacos.

“And when did you find out that you were an Alpha?” Tony asked after swallowing the food in his mouth.

“Just some years ago. The Ancient One told me,” he grimaced at the memory, “She just… mentioned it. She didn’t give much explanation, but I did my own research,” he shrugged, “that was rather recently though”.

Tony looked at him thoughtfully, “Really? You never got any indication of that part of yours before?”

“Well, I had always had some authority over animals, but obviously I’d never related it to being an Alpha. I didn’t even know what that was,” then he remembered something and talked without thinking, “I had an encounter with an Omega years ago, though. Her scent was sweet and _gross,_ I couldn’t stand her close to me,” he wrinkled his nose at the memory, “But then again, I didn’t know she was an Omega, I just thought she was using a cheap perfume”.

Tony blinked and kept staring at him while the sorcerer continued chewing his food without noticing the other man’s curious eyes, “And what about my scent?”

Stephen chocked on his taco.

Stark had the nerve to chuckle and give him some pats on his back.

The sorcerer calmed down and cleared his throat, “Sorry, too spicy,” he justified himself and drank some water. Gladly, that excuse justified his red face too.

“So?”

Oh, the little shit wasn’t going to just let it go, huh?

“Well,” he started, looking up, finding a pair of big curious brown orbs. Tony Stark shouldn’t have been born with those eyes, it was _unfair_.

His Alpha part was screaming at him to praise and flatter the Omega with one hundred compliments to let him know how absolutely delicious his scent was, and Stephen felt so mortified with that he wanted the floor to open and swallow him forever. 

“Yours is not _that_ bad”.

Tony tilted his head and smirked knowingly. Stephen rolled his eyes and groaned. 

Stark wasn’t stupid. If Stephen being kind of forced to feed him was some indication, it was obvious that he _liked_ his scent.

“Shut up,” he huffed embarrassed, even if Tony didn’t say anything. The mechanic chuckled, his eyes sparkling with delight and mirth. The Alpha internally sighed helplessly at the adorable sight, but externally he let out a snort, “I’m not about to inflate your head. It’s already big enough”.

He knew that just confirmed what the Omega was thinking, but Stephen decided it was worth it because then Tony glanced down at his food, letting his long eyelashes at dispel, smiling kind of shy, absolutely flustered. “You’re one to talk, doc”.

……………………………………………

Pepper was so relieved.

She had been utterly worried when she decided to end her relationship with Tony, thinking that the man would sink into depression, searching relief in alcohol. But Tony had demonstrated her how capable he was of understanding and standing up by himself. She was so glad that they managed to clean everything up between them and remain friends. 

She would be lying if she said she was happy about the separation. She wasn’t. But she knew better than to continue with it. 

Pepper had to admit that she had always felt protective about Tony, even before lying her eyes on him. Even with all the progress he had had through the years, Tony still managed to neglect his own health sometimes, and that was a big part of her problem with having kids… She had to take care of Tony, because nobody was going to.

But then, she had been looking at him carefully these last few weeks since the separation, and he didn’t seem to be unhealthy, physically or psychologically. He didn’t look tired during the meetings and he didn’t look weaker or depressed. 

She wasn’t sure what was happening (she really didn’t want to think that all those years Tony was being careless just because she was with him taking care of everything) until one day she entered his office and found him on the couch, staring at his cellphone. At some photos, to be precise.

He seemed absolutely immerse because he didn’t pay attention to the sound of her heels hitting the floor with every step, which allowed her to stand behind him and look over his shoulder to have a better view of the photo.

She blinked, a little confused. 

“You’re staring at him again,” she stated, making him jolt.

“Pepper!” he turned around putting a hand on his chest, “Have mercy with my heart!”

The woman chuckled at his reaction, “Those are nice photos,” she commented, glancing back at the man with blue eyes that was shown on the phone.

“Yeah,” Tony smiled and looked back at his phone, “I went with Peter and Stephen to the new museum the other day” he said fondly, and then frowned, “He hasn’t been sleeping well lately because of his job and I was looking for a good photo to shove it to his face and show him that those horrible black circles around his eyes weren’t there before,” he said pursing his lips sulkily. Pepper glanced at him, studying his expressions, “he is being very reckless lately. There is a bunch of sorcerers out there who could do the job, but nooo, it _has_ to be _him_ just because he knows how to do the magic thing, whatever it is,” he grumbled frowning at the photo.

She smiled, looking at him oddly, “Sounds familiar,” she couldn’t help but say. 

“Hey, I’m not- I mean, maybe, but he is-” he spluttered pointlessly, “That’s not helpful”.

Pepper continued to stare at him with an odd expression. She didn’t remember the last time Tony worried about someone else’s unhealthy habits.

She stared back at the photo, her eyes inflexibly set on the man standing in the middle of Tony and Peter, “He looks like a good person,” Pepper opined, not completely sure of what she was feeling. She was happy to see Tony doing well, but she was also starting to feel that he didn’t need her anymore, and that set a pang in her heart. 

Tony didn’t notice her sadness; his thoughts were busy machining something that changed his expression completely. “Pepper, there is something I need to tell you, and I want to apologize for not telling you sooner”.

Pepper clenched her jaw, guessing what he was about to say, “You are dating him?”

Tony looked up at her with wide eyes, “What? No! I’m not dating him! And it’s not about him!” he assured, and she just nodded, relieved because she didn’t want to think that their relationship meant so little to him that Tony was already dating someone else right now… or before the breakup, “I mean, it kind of is. But not like that. We’re just friends”.

“Okay,” she said softly, “What is it?”

He patted the space on the couch next to him, asking her to sit there. She did, and looked at him patiently.

“Uhm, well, this is very difficult to explain. Because it’s not very common,” Tony started, and carried on.

Pepper would have had a hard time believing him if Tony hadn’t started from the day his mother took him to the doctor when he was a kid. Tony loved his mother, and wouldn’t lie with something like this. 

It was difficult to digest. Tony being an Omega, given the description of what an Omega was, was hard to imagine when she remembered him always being a very imposing and indomitable man.

But the part that truly gave her an uneasy feeling was the mention of the _Alpha,_ who was precisely the blue-eyed man with magic that Tony seemly liked to stare so much. But Tony played it down. He mentioned instincts that he assured he was able to ignore, that he even was being able to forge a friendship with the man, who apparently was _just as smart as him_ (Tony’s words) and was able to control his impulses, too.

But how much of that was true, she wondered. Pepper couldn’t help worrying about Tony being at the mercy of a man who could use his nature against him. After all the things he’d been through, that would be disastrous for Tony, especially if he considered the other man his friend. Friend to a high level considering the good things Tony was saying about him.

And that was how, while she hugged Tony assuring him that he had all her support and could trust her for anything, she firmly decided that she was going to pay Mister Stephen Strange-

“Doctor Stephen Strange, Pepper. _Doctor_ ”.

 _-Doctor_ Stephen Strange a visit sooner than later, and verify by herself what kind of man he was. 

“Thank you for understanding, Pepper”.

Pepper gave him a sweet smile.

Tony still needed her. She was still important to him.

And she was glad.

……………………………………………

Stephen was feeling successful.

Right now he was attending to the first non-official meeting with the complete group of The Avengers due to a problem with a group of troll-like creatures from another dimension that had been reported in Manhattan. 

Stephen wanted to smile because: One, it was so hilarious seeing the Avengers trying to deal with the sneaky mischievous creatures which, by the way, had magic and wouldn’t let the heroes even catch the breath of them. And two and more important, he was absolutely delighted by the fact that Tony finally seemed well fed and his scent had no indication of a neglected Omega, like before.

“The creatures are 1,7 feet tall,” Captain America reported, “they have pointy ears and-”

He didn’t really know why they needed to carry out this meeting. The trolls were neutralized the second Stephen appeared. The Avengers weren’t even supposed to learn about the situation, but the creatures had proved to be slippery enough to catch their attention, so at the end, they had gotten involved. Sadly, some of the creatures managed to escape, and now the Avengers wanted to be part of the hunt (they took it personally when they were victim of the troll’s pranks, making them look like fools).

Gladly, Tony wasn’t there when the attack happened, but the engineer had all in video and laughed a lot at it.

Right now, Tony was sitting next to him, shifting impatiently, but he didn’t seem precisely bored. Stephen could see through the corner of his eyes that the man was bouncing and glancing at him from time to time, and the sorcerer wondered what was keeping him so excited.

“Hello,” the engineer whispered at him leaning a little.

Stephen glanced at him with a questioning raised eyebrow, “Hello?” he whispered back, smirking. They hadn’t had the chance for greetings since Stephen arrived late when the meeting had already started.

“Did you bring something to eat? I’m hungry,” Tony said humorously, with a grin on his face.

“No,” Stephen answered proudly, trying to keep his eyes on Rogers, who was still talking. 

“What?” Tony frowned and pursed his lips, “And here I didn’t eat anything to leave space for your food to help you calm your alpha instincts”.

Stephen chuckled quietly, “I think I’m getting better at ignoring my impulses,” he said, and the conversation stopped there because Colonel Rhodes was glancing at them and clearing his throat in a scolding way for them to stop talking. 

The sorcerer looked back at the Captain and focused his attention there. Being able to ignore those instincts was good since that meant he didn’t have to bother Tony with it anymore, right? Surely Tony would be happy with that.

Some minutes later, Stephen frowned, his nose sensing something in the air. He blinked, recognizing Tony’s scent, but with the hint that indicated that the Omega was _upset_ (he’d learned to identify such state). He was about to turn and look at him to ask what was wrong, but suddenly Rogers required him to proceed with further explanation about the creatures.

After some very busy days catching the remaining trolls, Stephen grabbed a box of tea, ready to make of it his excuse to seek out Tony and verify that the man was doing ok. 

The mechanic jumped at the sound of his portal, “Strange, for heaven’s sake!” 

“Sorry, my bad,” he apologized half-heartedly, happy inside for finding the other man in the kitchen eating something.

 _No, wait,_ he thought resisting the urge to roll his eyes, _He is just drinking coffee._

“You can’t just portal yourself inside other people’s houses, you know,” Stark said flatly, crossing his arms. 

Stephen smirked, knowing (by the scent) that Tony was happy to see him regardless, “You gave me direct permission to do that, actually”.

Tony returned his attention towards his precious coffee, not before glancing towards the box in the sorcerer’s hands, “Do you need anything?” 

“Not really,” Stephen looked at the box himself, trying to formulate his excuse correctly. After all, Tony seemed to be fine, he had worried for nothing, “Bruce asked me to bring this tea for him. It helps him a lot to relax”. 

Tony looked at his coffee, clenching his jaw, “Bruce, uh?” 

He nodded, blinking at the odd tone of the mechanic, “Is he here?” he asked regardless.

“No,” was the short dry response. 

“Oh, well,” Stephen frowned at the change of attitude, maybe Tony had a problem with Bruce? “Tell him I left this here,” he put the box on the table.

“Whatever”. 

Stephen’s body straightened. There it was. 

That scent again.

“Is something wrong?” he asked taking a tentative step towards the Omega.

“No,” Tony answered nonchalantly before sipping some of his coffee.  

Stephen let out a grunt with frustration and decided to go to the point. “I’m smelling a change in your scent, are you upset?” 

Tony looked at him with surprise, obviously not expecting that. For a moment Stephen thought that he would get offended for the supposed violation of the privacy of his state, but he knew that Tony understood that it wasn’t Stephen’s fault, that was why the Omega looked away, escaping Stephen’s eyes, “No”. 

“Are you sure?” the sorcerer insisted, narrowing his eyes.

“I’m not upset about anything,” he assured.

“Is it about the trolls?” Stephen asked, not knowing what else to say, “That’s under control. You don’t need to worry-”

“I said I’m not upset,” Tony snarled, frowning.

“Omega things?” the sorcerer insisted. If there was something he could help with, he wanted to know, “I’ve told you, Tony. You need to supply the little things if you don’t want to deal with big things”. 

Tony spluttered at that, “I don’t know. I just…” he took a deep breath in, and then he frowned at the other man, “You...! It’s your fault!” he accused pointing at him. 

Stephen stared in silence for a moment, “What?” 

Tony let out a frustrated groan, “You… oh God, this is so stupid!” he bodily turned away.

“Tony”. He really, _really_ needed further explanation.

Tony spun to face him again, his face reddened, “You stopped bringing me food!” 

Ok, now Stephen was completely speechless. 

What?

_What?!_

“And the idiotic Omega inside me has been whining in despair ever since!”

“I…” Stephen stuttered, his eyes still wide open, “I thought it was a burden to you,” he said in a whisper, “I just didn’t feel the need to feed you because you started to look heathier”. 

Tony rubbed his face with both hands. Stephen knew how he was feeling, really. These things about instincts were beyond all bearing for people like them who liked control so much. 

But then Tony looked up at him, furrowing his brows in confusion at what Stephen just said. “You thought it was a _burden_ to me?”

The sorcerer shrugged helplessly, “You’re a kind person. You only accepted because I said I felt alone”.

“No!” Tony denied strongly, which seemed to surprise even himself, “I mean, yes, at first, but…” he shook his head, “I do enjoy having a meal with you. I thought you knew that. I thought we were friends”.

Stephen stepped closer, all his body tensing because of the sad semblance of the other man, “You said that you preferred eating alone and no sharing”.

“Basically, I didn’t share my food, you always had two plates with you,” Tony pointed out crossing his arms, “I thought a part of you, not just because of the instincts, wanted to spend some time with me,” those doe eyes were shinning with disappointment and Stephen wanted to stomp his own head on the wall, “Just ignore it. It doesn’t matter”. 

“Of course it does!” Stephen retorted desperately, “We can go and eat something, right now”.

Tony looked at him with a stoned face and Stephen knew he wouldn’t have it that easily, “I don’t want anything. And I can buy my own things. Thank you very much”.

“Tony-”

“Leave me alone,” he grumbled turning his back to him.  

Stephen walked until he was in front of him again, “Tony, I can’t just ignore it, and you can’t do it either. Seeing you upset and _smelling_ it is making me feel upset, too,” Tony just glared at him. That wasn’t going to convince him at all, and Stephen knew it. He had to be sincere, “And… and I didn’t lie when I said that I thought that this was a burden to you, that’s why I restrained myself from treating you again, I didn’t want to bother you, but I still wanted to spend time with you,” he swallowed, and briefly wondered if this would be this easy to say if he weren’t an Alpha, “You are one of the few people I really like. I really enjoy your company. You are smart and fun, and you get my good jokes unlike the rest of the world”.

The engineer seemed to want to stay angry for some seconds, until he couldn’t help but letting his lips curl up, “Yeah, no one laughs at our amazing jokes. Why are people sensitive about everything?”

Stephen felt Tony’s scent changing to a calmer perfume and he had to hold the urge to sigh deeply in relief. He grinned instead, “You tell me,” he chuckled, “So, lunch?”

Tony hummed for a moment, looking thoughtful, but Stephen knew he was just playing difficult, “On one condition,” he said firmly, “Let me treat you sometimes, too. I don’t care if it stabs your alpha ego”. 

The sorcerer grinned. Of course it didn’t bother him, he just wanted Tony to be happy and well fed, “It doesn’t,” he assured.

“Also, I can sometimes share a half of a donut of my box of donuts with you. Just for you to feel blessed,” the Omega said lifting his chin petulantly.

Stephen gaped at him feigning awe, “I feel honored, your majesty”.

“Exactly,” Tony played along, “So, were are we going? Burgers?”

“No,” Stephen answered immediately and opened a portal, already with an idea in mind.

Tony frowned at the place at the other side of the portal; it looked dark. He followed the sorcerer anyway, and then he found himself in a very high place surrounded by the night and a beautiful widespread sight of an illuminated city. 

“Where are we?” 

“Paris”. 

Tony glanced at the sorcerer with surprise, and then he looked around him confirming that, yes, he was standing at the top of the Eifel Tower. “Are you kidding me, Strange? This is not the moment to be extra”.

“I was born extra,” the Alpha said proudly while his hair and his cloak waved in the wind dramatically.

Tony snorted, unable to keep himself from smiling. “So, Doctor _Extra_ , how are we going to get down-” a blink later, Stephen was standing next to him and Tony shrieked when the doctor lifted him in his arms easily (he had practiced a new spell to have more strength in his arms just for _this_ ). “Hey! I don’t need to be carried like a princess!”

“But I need to carry you like a princess. It’s my Alpha impulse, you know,” Stephen smirked when Stark narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously.

“Is this a payback for the trashphone thing?”

“Yes”.

“I’ll carry you next time. You’ll see,” he grumbled halfheartedly despite the fact that he was clinging to the sorcerer when he floated out of the tower.

“The cloak would never allow you that. It reserves the legitimate right”. 

“Not fair,” he chuckled, “So what? You’re going to _show me the world_?” he asked playfully, just to see if Stephen would catch the reference. 

He did. “Do you trust me?” he personified dramatically.

Tony laughed, “Hell no”.

Stephen shrugged, “Doesn’t matter”.

Tony was so focused on Stephen’s face that he barely registered the moment when the sorcerer’s clothes changed drastically from the robes to a three-piece suit. Tony startled and looked at himself, finding a suit on him too, “What the fuck?!” 

“It’s just an illusion,” Stephen explained, grinning amused at Tony’s surprised face, “You can’t go to your favorite restaurant in Paris with a sweater, can you?”.

Tony rolled his eyes, eyes that were shinning beautifully with the lights of the city and the bliss of the moment, “Show off”.

“How was your date?” Wong asked without interest, as if obliged to ask, still checking one his books and refusing to look at the stupidly smiling face of his colleague. 

“It wasn’t a date. It was a meeting with a _friend_ ,” Stephen corrected, sounding so sure of himself, but was he? Nah. 

“Friend, huh? So, are you going to take me to Paris, too?” Wong asked sarcastically. 

“An _Omega_ friend,” Stephen corrected, “What? Jealous?” he teased.

“Of the food? Yes”.

Stephen chuckled ( _because the idiot is just so happy right now_ , Wong thought smiling a little) and ordered Wong’s favorite pizza. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay, Stephen will keep Tony well fed! (and himself in the process)


	5. Growls and Mewlings (Part One)

 

“Wong!” Stephen stomped over into the library, looking agitated, “I have a problem”.

Wong sighed, not looking up from his book. “Will all my days be like this from now on?” he asked heaven.

“It’s important,” Stephen assured, and then he rolled his eyes when Wong looked at him flatly obviously not believing him. He continued anyway, “I’m starting to feel a little _stressed_ around the Avengers”.

His friend frowned, not having expected that, “Isn’t that normal?”

“They irritate me,” he clarified.

“Still normal”.

“They do nothing to irritate me and they _still_ irritate me,” he hissed slowly, holding his patience. His situation was unorthodox so he couldn’t take it off on Wong.

Wong was obviously trying to see the statement from an Alpha/Omega point of view, “So, by ‘the Avengers’ you mean everyone that’s not Tony, right?”

“Yes, no, I mean, not everyone, just-” he cut himself off, groaning with frustration, and decided to show Wong the book in his hands instead. He put it on the table and opened it on a specific page. “Look, in this book it talks about Alpha’s rituals and rivalry. It describes aggressiveness between Alphas when one wants to protect an Omega and their own position as the partner of such Omega,” he finished frowning at the illustrations shown in the book. It made him feel aggravated. Really, what a bunch of savages.

And he absolutely _refused_ to be like them!

Wong quirked an eyebrow at him, “So?”

Stephen swallowed before explaining. Gosh, this was so embarrassing, “I might… have noticed a _little_ aggressiveness coming from me towards some of the Avengers”.  

His friend still looked skeptical about the whole thing, “But they are not Alphas. Your nose should be able to recognize that”.

“I know!” Stephen said frustrated, “I think my instincts are relying on my eyes, too. They are big, muscled and capable people that _look_ like Alphas even if they don’t smell like it, and the sight of them close to Tony makes me anxious. Maybe I should-”

Wong laughed.

Stephen gaped at him. Not just because it was a very rare thing seeing Wong laughing out loud, but also because he was laughing at _him_. This wasn’t funny! He was worried about functioning professionally with the other heroes!

“I’m sorry,” Wong apologized, still amused, and not sorry at all, “I just imagined you jumping inadvertently at their necks like a wild animal and them all confused not even knowing why,” he chuckled a little more.

“That’s precisely what I want to avoid and you’re not helping,” he grumbled, not being able to suppress the blush on his face.

“Alright, let’s see,” the librarian checked the book, “It says here that Alphas only feel comfortable around: Omegas, Betas, puppies, submitted Alphas, and the parents of their chosen Omega,” he turned to look at Stephen, “we just need to know what features make you see someone as an Alpha and eliminate them out of your hormonally confused brain”.

Stephen huffed at the description, but nodded, “I don’t feel like that with all of the Avengers. Maybe we can start with that”.

“Let’s put it in order then. I’ll name the Avengers and you’ll tell me how your idiotic possessive Alpha self sees them,” Stephen opened his mouth to object. Was it necessary to insult him with every phrase? Wong’s face said yes. “So, Bruce?”

Stephen sniffed, annoyed, but complied, “Beta”.

“Peter?”

“Puppy”.

“Colonel Rhodes?”

He thought that one for some seconds before responding, “Uhm… Dad of the Omega?”

Wong looked at him bemused. “Seriously?”

“Or Beta! I don’t know,” he corrected, blushing a little, “I just don’t see him as a rival Alpha”.

The other sorcerer just shrugged, “Rogers?”

The suppressed growl that came out of Stephen’s throat was all the answer Wong needed, but Stephen still replied, “Alpha. It may has to do with the fact that he acts like the leader of the group, too,” he grimaced, “It might not help that Tony and he use to have a lot of disagreements, either”.

The atmosphere with the Avengers was not as tense as it seemed to be at the beginning after the defeat of Thanos. Tony still had some trust to build up in order to be completely comfortable with those who had left and now came back to the team, but he did everything in his hands to act as normal as possible around them. Then again, ‘normal’ didn’t mean ‘utterly friendly’ either. As far as Stephen knew, the team had always had differences and discrepancies to deal with. Therefore, the sorcerer had been witness of how quickly that group of grown heroes could turn into a bunch of children in minutes when a disagreement presented.

He couldn’t entirely blame them, though. Maybe he would be just as short-tempered if he had to work constantly with strong leader-headed people who had their own way to see things.

However, in his opinion, the whole situation was a little unbalanced. He was not surprised to see the majority of the team following the Captain’s orders, and yes, he could see the point of it, the man knew what he was doing after all, but there seemed to be a habit of making Tony’s mistakes bigger than they were. And Tony didn’t help with his cheekiness, to be honest. Tony had accepted Rogers as the leader the same way he had before Civil War, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have his salty, rebellious moments.

Tony had shared with Stephen his insecurities about the reintegrated members of the team, but had requested him to treat them as if he didn’t know anything.

He still remembered how tense Tony was while trying to build up the courage to dial the Captain’s number when they were in the middle of the problem with Thanos; that day, he had felt that the fight between them had had to do with something worse than the Accords, and he had been right. It was difficult for him not to feel protective of Tony knowing the things he knew now, but if Tony was able to forgive and open the doors of his home in order to keep peace between them for the sake of the world and his own well-being, what right had Stephen to be bitter? The least he could do for Tony was making the atmosphere less heavy for him and being there for him anytime he needed.

In conclusion, the disagreements between the Avengers were not really a situation Stephen could opine about, _but_ he always mediate when it was possible, taking advantage of his independent and objective position, using diplomacy and keeping in the role of the voice of reason.

The last time was a little different, though.

_“All I’m saying is that you could have warned us of your plan,” the captain said impassively._

_“And all I’m saying is that there was no plan. I just acted. Haven’t I acted immediately, those people would have drowned,” Tony hissed with impatience._

_“I know but, Tony, this is a team. We all work together. We could have helped”._

_Stephen was tense. He didn’t have information enough about this failed mission to say something. He looked around to see if anyone would have the decency to stop the conversation. No one did. Most of them were glaring at Tony who seemed more than used to it._

_“Helped with what? You don’t fly, and flying kicks and flying shields don’t count as flying,” Tony retorted more harshly this time._

_The Captain leveled his tone to Tony’s, “Do you always have to be so-?”_

_Then there was silence._

_And everyone was looking at Stephen with wide eyes._

_It was then that Stephen just realized that he had growled_.

 _Literally_ growled _._

_Like some kind of animal._

_He didn’t even know he could make that sound!_

_He cleared his throat to dissimulate it, pretending to have made an involuntary sound. Technically, he was very reasonable and impartial when it came to discussions like this, but right now he was feeling a burning urge summon a monster with tentacles to shut the Captain up, and he found that utterly disturbing._

_‘Alpha things,’ he concluded internally, more than sure._

_Why was he even here, he wondered. Oh, right, because they had failed their mission of catching the head of the group of criminals, who used a magical artifact, much to the Avengers’ distress._

_“I apologize for the interruption, Captain, but my time is limited and I’d appreciate if we skip the scolding part and go to the point,” the blond man opened his mouth to say something, but Stephen interrupted again. “We are all grown-up adults and, given our experiences of the past, I’m pretty sure we all know better than to risk people’s lives, this includes Tony more than anyone. If the performance of the team can be improved, as you said, Captain, I think one recommendation is enough, there is no need to go in circles around the subject,” he turned to look at Tony, who was sitting next to him with his big eyes fully open. “I’m sure Tony just forgot to notify his actions. If I recall correctly, he usually informs what he’s doing, even if the team is not able to help, but at least to let them know that he’s not available because he’s doing something else. I’m certain it won’t happen again,” he stared at the engineer, daring him to object. He received no objections. “Maybe it’s just the warming up into working with a big team again after having little to no help at all for years,” he looked back at Rogers pointedly, with the same imposing expression._

_Even if Stephen’s Alpha instincts didn’t expect Rogers to relent so easily, the man did, “You are right, Doctor. Let’s proceed”._

_Through the corner of his eyes, he saw Tony trying to hide his smirk. Did the little shit know what was going on with his damned hormones? Or maybe he just liked the way he stopped the conversation. He wondered if Tony, as an Omega, felt encouraged enough to bug the leader of the team just because the Alpha was sitting next to him… nah, Tony was just like that whenever he felt like._

That had been just the first of the hints of his growing anxiety towards the Avengers. The other hint was that he always stood as close as possible to Tony when there was someone else in the room. As if that douchebag needed to be shielded with his body any moment.

This was so frustrating.

“I see,” Wong hummed in understanding, “What about the rest? Romanov, Wilson, Thor?”

“It’s not as strong as it is with Rogers, maybe because he’s the leader, but Romanov and Sam make me uncomfortable, too,” he frowned when a realization hit him all of the sudden, “I don’t see Thor as a rival Alpha”.

Wong furrowed his eyebrows, confused, “Really?”

“Yes,” Stephen blinked, surprised himself, “But why? Of all people, I should see _him_ as an Alpha. He has the physical features and the inherent leadership of one”.

Wong remained silent for a moment, thinking about it, “Maybe it’s because you have already defeated him”.

Stephen snorted, amused, “What? I didn’t fight him, and he would end me with one of his lightings”.

“No, you would use your magic to block his attacks and you know it”.

“Well, yes, but I’d never fight-”

“What about his visit to the Sanctum when you met him for the first time?” Wong reminded him, “You used your magic to deal with him and his brother”.

“But I didn’t fight him,” Stephen insisted, not knowing where Wong wanted to go with this, “I just… dragged him around with teleportation”.

“And you still felt very superior about it”.

“What? Of course not,” he chuckled dismissively, but Wong kept looking at him deadpan, “Ok, maybe a little,” he admitted.

“There. That’s why you don’t see him as a threat. He’s like a confirmed Beta or maybe a proven inferior Alpha for you and your idiotic Alpha brain”.

Stephen inhaled deeply. “Let me tell you that I don’t appreciate any of the insults directed to my Alpha nature,” he snapped impassively, “but you’re right. It’s so idiotic,” he grunted and rubbed his forehead, “What am I going to do with Rogers and the rest? I can’t just portal them into another dimension out of nowhere to show _myself,_ as stupid as it sounds, that I’m a stronger Alpha”.

“Train with them or something, kick their asses amicably,” Wong recommended, “and maybe just focus on Rogers since the other Avengers see him as the leader, it will eliminate them from the list by default”.

“Sending them to another dimension in the middle of training wouldn’t be a fair display of my abilities,” Stephen objected, rolling his eyes. Then he looked away, seeming thoughtful. “I think hanging out with Rogers would help. It’d make me see that he’s not a threat of any kind, just a friend”.

Wong snorted at that, “Hanging out? What would you two even talk about?”

“I don’t know. Hydra?” he sighed, out of ideas. “You are right, it wouldn’t do. I barely have free time and Tony wouldn’t like me spending it with his teammate instead of him,” he mumbled to himself distractedly.

His friend raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a condescending expression. “True. Giving your time and attention to Rogers would be very upsetting for your Omega, considering he’s so needy even as his normal self”.

Stephen finally looked up at him and frowned with offense. “He’s not _my_ Omega, and… he’s not needy,” he said the last part with less certainty.

“He calls or texts you every day,” Wong pointed out.

“Being in contact help us deal with the instincts,” he justified.

“He always tries to catch your attention if you’re paying attention to something else”.

“What? That’s not true. When-?”

“He forced Bruce to give your clothes back when he smelled your scent in them”.

“I…” Stephen blinked, processing what he just heard, “wait, what?”

“Oh, right, I didn’t tell you that one,” Wong started nonchalantly, “remember when Hulk fell and made a big hole in the Sanctum? And then he was half naked and you gave him your civilian clothes?” he asked with seriousness, but the amusement in his voice was latent.

Stephen frowned, he had never expected those clothes back when he gave them to Bruce. He just nodded as a response.

“Well, naturally, with all the things that happened after that, he didn’t return them to you, so it happened that some days ago he was wearing that sweater of yours, went to the lab to work with Stark, Stark immediately smelled that those were your clothes and, being the good Omega he is, he wasn’t going to allow that”. Wong looked back at the book to flip the page casually, ignoring Stephen who was staring at him with wide eyes, “Bruce came to the Sanctum to give them back, you were on a mission that day. He said Tony explained how poor you are and how much you need your clothes, but I knew that excuse was bullshit because I’m informed about the whole situation,” Wong smirked a little, surely because he liked knowing things that the rest didn’t, “Poor Banner was very confused. And annoyed, because Stark had made him wear his clothes which were too tight”. 

Complete silence followed. Wong decided to let it sink into Stephen’s skull.

After a moment, Strange cleared his throat, “That’s… not being needy”.

“I know. That’s being possessive,” Wong emphasized, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he noticed some satisfaction in the middle of all the embarrassment of Stephen’s face. “You two are entering a phase driven by the instincts and don’t even realize it”.

Stephen shook his head in disagreement. “We actually do, that’s why we act on it. You know we just go through this entire dilemma because of our few incontrollable impulses, to avoid bigger ones”.

“Are you really avoiding them, though?” Wong asked narrowing his eyes. “Is not ‘wanting to jump at other man’s jugular’ considered big?”

“It’s not that bad. I just feel irritated and alert… and a little protective,” Strange assured, but sounded hesitant about it. Wong’s questions were making him doubt. “And I’m here looking for a solution given the first symptoms. I’m controlling it”.

“Maybe you are just falling into the illusion of control. Maybe some time away would be better for both of you,” Wong opined.

Stephen’s eyes went wide. “Are you crazy? Last time I spent time away from him I almost went insane”.

“It’s different because now you are friends who know the other would be there if something is needed,” Wong said solemnly. “You don’t need to be glued to the hip in every opportunity”.

Strange rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Look, I just need to solve the problem with Rogers. I’m not being possessive,” he assured agitatedly, “it had never bothered me seeing him close to Peter, for example”.

“That’s because you see Peter as your puppy,” Wong scoffed.

“What?” he asked smiling, as if the idea were ridiculous, but clearly Wong knew he was just trying to dismiss it, “I don’t”.

“A moment ago you said you see him as a puppy”.

“I thought you were talking about Peter Quill,” he excused quickly.

Ok, not the best excuse.

“You see Quill as a puppy?” Wong grimaced at the thought. And Stephen was surprised to hear a ‘yes’ in his head. What was going on? “He’s not even an Avenger”.

“Fine, I see Peter Parker as a puppy but, honestly, who wouldn’t?” he knew no one would object to that, “That doesn’t mean I see him as _my_ puppy because a puppy is… can… can we stop talking like this? He’s not a little dog; puppy is not the right term!”

“We are talking about Alpha and Omega problems so the term is correct,” Wong said calmly.

“It’s not, because Peter has nothing to do with this”.

“I see” Wong nodded. “So seeing him as a son is part of your normal being”.

_Yes!_

“No!”

“How do you know that being protective with Stark is not part of your normal being, too?”

“Because normal people don’t growl!”

“You are growling right now,” Wong pointed out.

“Not like that! I mean _growl_ as some kind of angry animal”.

“Really?” Wong blinked, impressed and curious, “Fascinating”.

“No, it’s not!”

“Do you roar, too?”

“Wong!”

“Is this level of denial the result of your fear of losing control or your fear of facing feelings that have nothing to do with your nature as an Alpha?”

“I…” Stephen got a moment to process the question, “What?”

“You like Stark,” Wong said, as a matter of fact.

Stephen swallowed, looking like a deer in highlights, “Of course I like him, he’s-”

“You like him _a lot_ ”.

Not being able to hold Wong’s gaze anymore, Stephen looking down and said nothing. His silence confirmed the truth.

Wong’s face softened at that. “This is dangerous, Stephen. You could end up hurt”.

“Everything is under control, Wong,” he assured with seriousness.

“I see,” Wong accepted his answer, and continued. “What about Peter then?”

Stephen huffed. “The gratification of spending time with him and Tony has nothing to do with family subjects,” he reiterated, “They are just my friends and we can stay away from each other as much as we want”.

As if it were a slap from the universe itself, his phone started to ring and they heard the song ‘Back in Black by AC/DC’ playing aloud. It was Tony’s self-selected tone.

Wong _stared_ at Stephen.

Stephen _refused_ to look at Wong.

He sighed in defeat and pulled his phone out of his pocket to answer the incoming video-call.

He was about to scold Tony for not allowing the change of the irritable tone of his freaking number, disguising his frustration of being ashamed in front of Wong for reasons he was definitively not going to share with the engineer.

All his scolding mood melted when he saw those big brown eyes shining with mirth accompanied with an adorable innocent smile.

Oh God, he was so gone.

“Hey, Doc,” greeted Tony batting his eyelashes on purpose.

“Doctor Strange!” Peter appeared on the screen, too, with a big grin.

“Hi,” All the fondness blooming in his heart was visible in his smile.

“Peter finished his training early and we’re going to make cookies,” Tony informed. “Wanna join us in this disaster?”

“With chocolate chips!” Peter added excitedly.

“Sounds tempting,” he chuckled. He was about to accept, but a movement from his cloak made him remember of his duties. “Sadly, I have a meeting in some minutes”.

“Damn, I was hoping you’d use magic to make this easier,” Tony pouted.

“We’re going to save some cookies for you!” Peter assured, keeping his enthusiasm.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he smiled and they said their goodbyes.

He almost forgot his previous conversation with Wong. He remembered all of it once he turned to face the other sorcerer’s knowing expression accompanied with crossed arms.

“These… friends of mine. Making cookies,” Stephen said pointlessly, and then he quickly turned around to leave. “I have to go”.

Wong just shook his head, now alone. “Yeah. Not family subject at all”.

 

…………………….

 

Steve let out a long sigh while walking towards the kitchen after his workout session of the morning. He was in the mood for a glass of orange juice.

The Compound was filled with silence, it was still very early in the morning, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he ran into someone preparing their breakfast.

And there it was. Tony.

Steve stood at the door, not entering the room. Yes, Tony and he had amended a lot of issues between them but it was still a little tense when they were alone in the same room. He always preferred when there was someone else there, more because of Tony than for himself. 

“Who was the clown?” Tony grumbled grumpily and Steve just realized that the engineer was trying to reach for the bottle of coffee on a cupboard that was too high for him. Stark seemed to think that someone put it there just to annoy him, and maybe he was right, who knew? Rhodey and Tony used to play pranks against each other sometimes.

For a second, Steve thought that he could go and help him, but hesitated. Would Tony appreciate the help or will it just bother him?

The next second, Steve winced when he saw Tony jumping, shoes and everything, on the counter. Oh gosh, he made his sandwiches there! 

Tony was about to straighten himself and finally grab his coffee when suddenly another person walked into Steve’s vision and grabbed Tony’s waist with his arm, pulling him off the counter. Tony let out a high-pitched shriek of surprise in the process.

It was Doctor Strange.

“Really?” the doctor said smoothly, amusement and fondness in his voice. “Something is out of your reach and you just step on anything you can?”

“I’m not a giraffe like some other people,” once on the floor, Tony glared up at the sorcerer, whose arm was still around his waist.

“You could always ask for help, you know,” Strange turned to take the coffee. Steve noticed a second of hesitation in him and finally the doctor decided to use his magic to handle the bottle, not touching it with his trembling hand. Then he put the bottle on the counter at Tony’s disposal.

“Yeah, no. There is a woman I love with all my heart and her name is dignity, heard of her?” Tony was still pouting at him.

The doctor didn’t seem bothered by his mood. “Sometimes even the strongest men need someone to rely on”.

“Oh shut up, Ghandi, I need my coffee to function, no time for philosophies,” Tony grumbled and proceeded to prepare his coffee. Stephen just chuckled.

Steve let out a sigh of relief. The doctor’s presence was always a balsam for him when it came to Tony. To anything, if he was honest. First, because his powers allowed them to do their missions more easily when he was able to help, and second, because he was honest, impartial and very diplomatic; he admitted when someone was right and stepped in when someone was wrong, always being careful of maintaining his tactfulness.

He knew the doctor favored Tony in comparison to the rest. By far. But even if he sometimes looked kind of stoic and enigmatic, he was always friendly with everyone, and his presence alone soothed Tony’s mood a lot.

With that in mind, he entered the kitchen with confidence.

“Good morning,” he greeted.

“Good morning, Captain,” Stephen greeted back after serving himself a glass of milk.

“ ’ning,” grumbled Tony. He didn’t drink his coffee yet, he was still preparing it.

Steve let out a snort and went for his planed orange juice. “Came to have some breakfast, doctor?”

“Something like that,” the sorcerer answered with a lopsided smirk, “I was promised cookies”.

Tony’s head jerked up at that, and he suddenly seemed more than awake. “They were destroyed,” he assured quickly.

Amused by his reaction, Strange just regarded him with a knowing smirk. “Peter said they were here, hidden somewhere”.

“Well, you’ll never find out where because-” Stephen waved his hand and all of the sudden every door of the whole extension of cupboards was open. A vase floated out of one of them in Stephen’s direction. The vase of cookies. “That’s cheating!”

The vase floated above Tony’s head towards the sorcerer, out of the engineer’s reach.

“No, wait!” Tony tried to reach it desperately, and Steve, even if amused, was confused. Yesterday, Tony went to every Avenger and even called Thor to make them try his horrible cookies in order to laugh at them. Why wasn’t he doing the same with the doctor? “Don’t eat them! They are poisonous!”

Steve’s eyes went wide. _Were they??_

 _Wait. Poison doesn’t work on me._ He calmed himself. Also, the thought of Tony trying to kill them all was ridiculous…

Wasn’t it?

“I don’t think they’ll be that bad,” the doctor chuckled, still keeping the vase out of Tony’s reach, and then he looked towards Steve, “Did you try some cookies, Captain?”

The soldier smiled at him, “I _tried_ to try them, but it was like biting a rock”.

“See? They are horrible!” Tony exclaimed. “Even the super soldier wasn’t able to deal with them,” he said pointing at Steve. “Give them to me right now!”

“Why would I do that?” the doctor asked playfully, “you don’t like being handed things”.

Steve frowned, puzzled at that bit of information. Tony stopped his struggling and looked at the sorcerer surprised. “How do you know that?”

“I’m observant”.

Steve’s eyebrows shot up at the sight of Tony looking… was that a flustered face? “I… I don’t care! Give them back!” he went back to trying to grab the vase.

“They just need some milk,” Stephen assured.

“Oh come on! You’re going to die!” in his desperation, Tony turned to Steve for help, “Cap, tell him he’s going to die!”

Steve nodded, “He’s going to die with _honor_ ”.

Tony finally gave up. “ _Fine_ , you want to die? Go ahead,” he walked towards his abandoned coffee with a grumpy face.

Steve hid his amused smile behind his glass of juice while he observed the whole situation. The doctor was now soaking his cookie with milk, very concentrated. Tony, pretending not to care, was actually looking at the doctor with the corner of his eyes, clenching his jaw, mixing his coffee with a teaspoon more than necessary, and he looked very, very frustrated and anxious. Steve was still confused on what all the fuss was about with the doctor trying those awful cookies, everyone else had-

 _Wait_.

Steve blinked surprised when a realization hit him.

His mind went to the past. His school years. Images of him walking with Bucky came to his memory. Then, girls approached them, always with Bucky as the target, and gave him cookies, or cakes, or pies, or whatever they managed to make, looking nervous or anxious, waiting to see if Bucky liked what they had prepared…

_Oh my Gosh. What the Fuck. What the **Fuck**._

“They are good,” Stephen’s smooth voice got the soldier out of his trance.

“Really?” Tony’s eyes visibly lighten up at that. “You’re just talking,” he snorted, but he was still grinning.

“They are hard, but very tasty,” the doctor said sincerely. Tony snorted again, lowering his gaze to his coffee, not helping his smile, and finally able to drink it in peace.

How hadn’t he noticed this before?!

Steve chuckled all of the sudden and out of nowhere, and Tony and the doctor glanced at him weirdly. Why was he happy about this? He didn’t know. What the hell was going on? “It was a chaos yesterday,” he started to tell in order to stop looking like an idiot, “They thought some feminine intervention would be a good addition and they asked Natasha for help. She got so frustrated at some point that she pull out her gun and was about to fill the dough with bullets”.

“Oh, shut up. At least she helped giving punches to it. You just watched,” Tony complained halfheartedly, and then he continued to relate all the process to Stephen, “It didn’t matter what we did, we couldn’t get the consistence of the damn dough right!”

Steve just limited himself to watching their whole exchange in silence. Tony’s attention was all on the sorcerer and just looked at Steve to corroborate some things from time to time, but Stephen’s eyes were on Tony the whole time, entirely captivated and lost in Tony’s face and gestures.

Steve shook his head and finished his juice. He didn’t know what level of relationship Tony and Stephen had since Tony didn’t talk about such personal matters anymore, but he was glad.

Oh, with all this, he had almost forgotten something.

“Doctor,” he caught Stephen’s attention when Tony stopped talking, “I wanted to talk to you about something”.

“Yes?”

“Remember the trolls, weeks ago?” the doctor nodded, tensing and frowning at the mention of the creatures. “Don’t worry, it’s not important. I was just curious,” he assured, so the sorcerer calmed and continued eating his cookies. “One bit me in the arm back then. It healed the next day. There is no mark anymore but yesterday it started to itch-”

Stephen chocked. Steve stopped talking.

“What?!” Steve startled at his panicked reaction. “A troll bit you?!” the doctor stomped towards him and he almost cringed, “Why are you telling me just now?!”

“I-I…” was it weird that he was feeling in his school days again but for a completely different reason? Stephen was normally very calm, this was a new face for him, “I thought it wasn’t that important, it disappeared the next day completely. And now the spot just itches”. 

He had never been careful with his own health, if he was honest. When he became a super soldier, he had to worry about it even less. His new body was immune to illnesses and had a strong healing mechanism.

But now, the _doctor_ was glaring at him.

A lot of doctors had glared at him throughout his life, but this doctor was glaring at him the hardest. It didn’t help that he was sitting while the sorcerer was standing.

“Yes, it itches at first. The next thing is your organs melting like butter inside of you,” he hissed darkly, “And there is no body that could resist that”.

Steve blinked up at him, dumbfounded.

Stephen groaned and turned around to open a portal. Then he mumbled something under his breath.

_“Puppy”._

“What?” Steve got out of his stupor. What did he say?

“You are coming to the Sanctum with me,” he ordered, and Steve stood up automatically to follow him. Stephen turned around to give Tony one last glance, “See you later, Tony. Please, ask the rest of the team if they didn’t get bitten or something during that mission”.

“ ‘kay!” Tony answered cheerfully.

 

….……………………………..

 

She swallowed, standing in front of the door. She was confident of her plan until a second ago. Maybe she shouldn’t be doing this. Their relationship was not of her business after all. This was an intrusion. What was she even going to ask-? 

 _No_. Pepper thought, erasing any remaining hesitation. _I need to do this. For Tony._

She knocked the door.

It opened.

She startled.

The thing that had opened the door was staring at her patiently.

 _Staring?_ She asked herself. _It’s a cloak!_

Or, was it Doctor Strange, but invisible?

“Hello?” she said, her entire body stiffed.

“Cloak, what are you doing?” Pepper heard a deep voice approaching from inside the house and she sighed relieved, recognizing it. “You don’t get to open the door. I told you no one finds it funny”. Finally, the sorcerer showed his face. He looked very surprised to see her, “Miss Potts”.

“Good morning, Doctor Strange,” she greeted and stepped inside when he gave her space to enter.

“To what do I owe your visit?” he asked curiously, then his face turned concerned, “is Tony okay?”

Pepper suppressed a smile, finding his concern for Tony as a good sign. “No, don’t worry. I’m sorry I came without telling you. I just wanted to talk to you about something. I hope I’m not intruding. This will be quick”.

“It’s alright. I wasn’t too busy,” he motioned her to take seat, “would you like some tea?”

“Yes, please,” a cup of tea appeared on the little table in front of her. “Oh, efficient,” she commented humorously at the quickness.

“So,” the sorcerer took seat in front of her, with his own cup of tea, “how had you been?” he asked softly.

He didn’t say it, but Pepper knew what he was asking about, “Pretty well, actually. It’s…” some melancholy tinted her eyes, but she kept smiling, “it’s going better than I thought”.

The doctor nodded, “I know I’m not in the position to say this since all the times we met in the past carried a lot of tension and problems, but I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.

“It was not your fault. It was going to happen sooner or later,” she let out a sigh, “I’m actually glad that it was sooner than later”.

He offered her a little smile. “He talks a lot about you”.

Pepper chuckled. She didn’t know if he was saying that just to make her feel better or if he was saying the truth, regardless of any option, he was able to read her well enough to know that hearing that would make her feel happier. “Does he?”

“The strongest and smartest woman ever,” he recited, “his exact words”.

She giggled flustered. Gosh, she couldn’t blame Tony for being so infatuated with this man. His deep voice and sharp blue eyes alone were hypnotizing.

“He talks a lot about you, too,” she said in return, and was pleased to see his surprised face, “you helped him a lot,” she regarded him with a grateful smile.

He looked flattered, but shook his head. “He did it alone. He’s the strongest man I know”.

Pepper’s lips quirked up, “Sometimes even the strongest men need someone to rely on”.

His head jerked up when she recited that. He was surprised one more time. “I… said that yesterday,” he said narrowing his eyes.

She nodded.

“He talks a lot about you,” she repeated.

He opened his mouth to say something but only a little chuckle came out, and he just looked down at the floor.  

 _Oh, he’s blushing_ , she thought tilting her head, observing him with contemplation. “You became a very important person to him, that’s precisely why I’m here”.

He looked up again, giving her all his attention.

“I…” Pepper made a pause to take a deep breath before continuing, “I know about Tony’s nature as an Omega. And I know yours as an Alpha”.

He nodded, not surprised as she had expected him to be. “Yes, he told me that he informed you about it”.

She sighed, relieved that they were past the first issue that bothered her. “I don’t want to intrude. I just… I’m worry about him. About his well-being,” Stephen remained silent and listening. “Years ago, when he became Iron Man, he put himself in danger more than ever. He received a lot of blows before becoming the man he’s today. He suffered so much, there were moments where I wished he just went back to be the same arrogant self-centered jerk he was before,” she chuckled at the absurdity, but it came out as a drowned sob. She took another breath to calm herself, “When I learned about the idea of the Avengers, a group of heroes that would work with Tony, I thought it was great. I thought that finally Tony wouldn’t fight alone, that he wouldn’t carry all the responsibility, that he wouldn’t need to risk himself so much,” she looked up at Stephen with moist eyes, “But it didn’t happen. At the end, nothing changed, when he was in trouble no one came to help, then he decided to act on his own, resulting on what happened in Sokovia,” she cleaned a tear that came out, and continued, “I left after that. It was too much for me. But I left thinking that at least he had his friends with him to help him out. I was wrong again,” she inhaled shakily, “I came back, because Civil War happened and that broke him even more. He found out about… something terrible…” she sniffed, not looking at Stephen, and she was about to continue…

But Stephen talked.

“His parents,” he said, nodding in sympathy.

She looked up in shock. “He told you…” she whispered, not believing her ears.

“Yes,” he confirmed, and shifted in his seat awkwardly, not understanding her surprise.

“But,” she spluttered, “he didn’t even tell Rhodey about it,” she frowned at the floor, “and he, his _best friend_ , received them back with open arms, not knowing what they did to Tony”.

A napkin floated towards her, and she accepted it with a soft ‘thank you’. Then he talked, “It’s understandable. Tony is not the kind of person that would put his beloved ones against others when the only hurt one was himself. That would create tension between them, and Tony wouldn’t afford that knowing that sooner or later he would need the help of his former teammates,” he said calmly, his voice soothing Pepper’s nerves, “I was angry when I learned about it, too, but I understood his decision. It’s not about them getting the forgiveness they don’t deserve, it’s about Tony getting freedom from that bitter horrible feeling. I wouldn’t help him at all being unkind to those whom he decided to forgive. The least I can do is being there for him, stepping in to calm the waters, and reminding him that there is someone he can entirely trust, not only when problems present or when the world is ending”.

He startled when Pepper let out a loud sob and started crying with her hands on her face.

“I-I’m sorry, what did I say? Oh God,” he stood up quickly to sit next to her and awkwardly pat her on the back.

“I was… I was so angry when it happened,” she confessed, calming a little, but the tears were still running, “I destroyed that stupid ‘sorry not sorry’ letter. I insisted so much on him to tell Rhodey about it. I insisted so much on him throwing away that phone with the Captain’s number. I insisted so much on him to go and hunt them all to bring them to prison,” she sobbed and sniffed, “I was so angry. At them. At him, too, for not being as angry as me, for not leaving the life of heroes where no one seemed to appreciate him”.

“It’s normal-”

“No, it’s not!” she shouted, interrupting him, “I wasn’t able to understand all the things you did! I just made him feel worse! I just…!” she cut herself off and kept sobbing.

 He let her. Remaining silent.

Then she calmed down.

And he repeated.

“It’s normal”.

She looked up at him with wide eyes.

“It was not your responsibility to carry with all of this. It was not your responsibility to come back, and you still did. You were there for him when he most needed it, and that was enough for him,” he said calmly, “It’s normal to be angry. It’s normal to want the best for the person you love even if at first you don’t understand what _is_ the best. And it’s also normal that you don’t entirely understand how he feels, because the things Tony faced and felt throughout his life are unimaginable and they happen to one person in a million,” he finished, giving her a smile.

She stared at him deep in the eyes through her moist eyelashes. Recognition filled her expression. “You are one person in a million,” she whispered.

He kept smiling, but his eyes saddened and Pepper could see in them the same weight she often saw in Tony’s eyes, “The long way I went through is written in my scars. The things I saw, the things I’ve suffered, the things I’ve learned, all of it made me the man I’m now,” he chuckled and confessed, “before that, I was a self-centered jerk, too”.

Pepper exhaled the air she was retaining in her lungs, “With all this situation with Alphas and Omegas, I was scared, of the control you might have over him,” she admitted, “I was worried that you would end up breaking his heart. He trusted before, and ended up hurt. He thought his friendship was truly valued when it wasn’t”.

“It was valued,” he countered, and she frowned, “It just wasn’t valued to the level of the other person’s friendship. At the end, we are humans. We all have someone we want to protect the most, we all have those people we are capable of lying for, we all have our priorities. And even if the means don’t justify the ends, we can’t be blamed for having them and loving them more than the rest,” he said, and she understood now when Tony told her that the doctor wasn’t partial, and how much he liked that. Stephen wasn’t babysitting him, he was taking care of him in the most honest way. “I can assure you Tony is one of my priorities”.     

She took in a deep shaky breath and exhaled. A mix of profound sadness and relief settled in her heart, making her confused.

Even if Tony welcomed her in his life as someone very important, as an indispensable friend, she couldn’t help the disappointment in her heart of seeing everything she had imagined their relationship to be, or the mere possibility of it, crumbling to her feet, now more than ever. Because looking at Stephen, she was able to see it: the happiness she had imagined with Tony had been an illusion that wouldn’t have lasted. And this man in front of her was the one holding in his scarred hands the potential of reaching that happiness with Tony, and that happiness would be the realest one, for both of them.

Tony had told her that they were just friends but she wasn’t blind. She had seen how Tony’s eyes brightened up every time he mentioned the doctor. She had seen today the shinning in the doctor’s eyes while talking about Tony. No, she wasn’t blind.

It was hard to swallow, the fact that there was someone with the potential of being Tony’s perfect match.  And that someone wasn’t her.

“Thank you, Doctor Strange,” she had come here to know if Tony was safe. She understood that he was.                                                                                

He nodded with a gentle smile. “Please. Call me Stephen”.

“And you can call me Pepper”.

 

…………….………………………..

 

“I’m sorry. I know you have a lot of things to do,” she apologized when the man sat in front of her in the Starbucks she had selected.

“It’s ok. I know you have a lot of things to do, and yet here you are,” Rhodey said smiling, “and we’re talking about Tony. I couldn’t say no”.

Pepper just chuckled. “He told me that he informed you about…” she leaned in to whisper confidentially, “his Omega nature”.

“Yes,” Rhodey confirmed rolling his eyes, “geez, at least he went delicately about it with you. With me, he just throw it, ‘hey Rhodes, I’m an Omega, y’know!’” he sighed with frustration, “I had to look it up all by myself and I was traumatized with the descriptions”.

Pepper sipped some of her coffee. “Stephen is an Alpha”.

Rhodey grimaced. “Yes, that was another blow. My mind was scarred with the mental images”.

She laughed. “I talked to him yesterday,” she sighed melancholically. “He’s perfect,” she mumbled looking at nothing.

Rhodey hummed in disagreement, “I wouldn’t say that. He laughs at Tony’s horrible jokes and makes horrible jokes himself”.

That made Pepper laugh again. “I didn’t mean he was flawless. I mean he’s perfect _for Tony_. And you just proved my point with another example. Oh my God, he has the same stupid humor? Really?” she laughed again.

“You were perfect, too, you know,” he assured.

She shook her head, “I think I was the perfect mother,” she said with a sad smile, “I was able to call him out of his bullshit, and always told him when I thought he was wrong, but at the end I always sought his happiness and well-being, I forgot to seek mine. I fell into the illusion that things were going to change someday. I was… waiting for him to change”.

“They are just friends right now,” he said, thinking that maybe she felt betrayed.

“Oh, I know,” she said more cheerfully, “they will be more, though, in the future,” she made a thoughtful pause, “If they don’t, I’m going to slap them both”.

Rhodey laughed.

“Oh, and Stephen lent some books to me. It would be wise to read them,” Rhodey nodded, “ _We_ have to read them,” she looked at the man pointedly.

The colonel groaned, “Aww, do we?”

 

…………….………………………..

 

“I must thank you so much for your help, my friend,” Thor said grinning widely at him. “We wouldn’t have the resources to start a new life without you”.

This time Tony had to admit it. Funding Asgard to stablish it on Earth was something big, so he accepted the gratitude without any complaint.

“I’m glad to help,” he said, and continued reading the book of laws that Thor had given him in order to check if everything was according to Earth’s general laws.

He was finding it difficult to concentrate, though.

Beside him was Stephen. The sorcerer was checking the list of magical artifacts that Thor had stored in his house to see it any of them deserved to go to the Sanctum with him.

Thor was sitting in front of them at the table, and his very annoying little brother was sitting next to the blond man.

He was doing his best to ignore Loki’s presence, but it was becoming impossible with the way he was staring at _Stephen_.

Stephen, on his part, didn’t even notice, or maybe he did but he was much more successful ignoring it. Nevertheless, Loki kept his flat expression and his eyes glued on the sorcerer, as if waiting for him to react at his glaring.

What the hell did he want with Stephen?

After shifting uncomfortably in his seat more than once, Tony had had enough.

“Do you have any problem?” he asked harshly, getting the attention of the other three men in the room.

Loki didn’t look surprised at his intervention. “Besides being magically enchained? No, of course not,” he said sarcastically.

“You’re not _enchained_ ,” Stephen corrected as if talking to a child, “your magic is just restrained under my control”.

“I don’t see the difference,” Loki said stubbornly.

“If it weren’t for Stephen, you wouldn’t even be allowed to be in this planet, so I suggest you to stop your glaring,” Tony snarled, and his voice had more bitterness than intended.

“Glaring has never killed someone,” Loki retorted calmly, “I would know”.

“Don’t worry,” Thor intervened, still grinning as if his little brother weren’t inconveniencing them, “that’s not his face of plotting a murder. He must be internally fighting with the fact that he has a crush on the master wizard”.

Tony’s entire body tensed and made a disgusted face. Loki? With a crush on Stephen? What the F-

His thoughts were interrupted by Thor’s loud scream, and just then he realized that Loki had pulled a knife out of nowhere and stabbed Thor in his hand, piercing it and sticking it to the table.

Tony and Stephen stood up that second, activating their defenses.

Loki looked at them calmly while Thor squirmed in pain trying to free his hand next to him. “As you can see, second-rated sorcerer, I don’t need my magic to do my thing,” he assured Stephen.

In the middle of his squirming, Thor chuckled. “And now he’s bragging in front of his crush… Loki, no!” he shouted when his brother pulled out another knife and put it on Thor’s throat… where the hell were they coming from?! “Ok, I apologize, I have obviously misread your feelings. You are just sore for the last time we were here and he kicked your ass-AH!”

And now, they were strangling each other.

What was wrong with this family?

“Hey!”

Stephen’s voice rumbled on the walls, and Thor and Loki stilled in a very awkward position. Not because they were paying attention, but because Stephen had used his magic to paralyze them.

“I understand that stabbing and strangling each other is a very common way of affection between you two,” Stephen started, not amused at all with it, “but Tony and I have a lot to do and we’d appreciate it if you’d stop wasting time”.

He lifted his magic and they were able to move again.

“Yes, _dad_.” Loki said with sarcasm, but sitting straight again.

Thor did the same. “Sorry”.

Tony rolled his eyes, taking seat too. “You should bandage that”.

Thor looked at his bloody wound, “Oh, right”. He rose and left.

Silence reigned in the room. Stephen went back to read the list of magical artifacts.

And that jerk went back to stare at Stephen.

Tony clenched his jaw.

Thor came back.

“Is this artifact with you?” Stephen asked Thor, pointing at an item in the list.

“Yes. I’ll show you,” the blond man said standing up and Tony tensed. Was he going to be left alone with the undesirable trickster?

“No,” Stephen said quickly, “Just tell me where and I’ll go alone”.

Tony sighed in relief.

 

……………………………………………………..

 

Stephen smelled Tony being restless so he was procuring to be as quick as possible with his task in order to finish it as soon as possible. He was right now in the indicated room checking the artifacts that he considered more dangerous.

“Are you done?”

He heard Tony’s voice, and when he turned around, he saw Tony’s figure.

He didn’t smell Tony’s scent, though.

“Done,” he answered shortly.

Tony grinned.

 _That’s not Tony’s grin_.

“Wonderful, being here was tiresome and boring. You know, I feel in the mood for tacos, what about you?” Tony asked approaching. 

Stephen grunted, looking at him coolly. “Why would I tell you anything about me, _Loki?_ ”

Tony’s smile disappeared and his figure transformed into Loki’s one. He looked annoyed. “Wow, you’re always alert, huh?”

“I don’t have time for your games”.

“Hey, Stephen,” he heard Tony’s voice again, approaching the room, “I’m done with the-” Tony, real Tony, stopped suddenly at the frame of the door, looking at him with wide eyes.

Stephen wondered why he had that expression, until he turned to find another Stephen standing next to him.

“Loki,” said the false Stephen, jerking his head towards the real one, “He’s just playing something we should ignore,” he said and pretended to be indifferent about it holding an artifact and inspecting it.

Strange grimaced. This mad man was such a child.

“He is Loki,” he said to Tony, not wanting to elaborate in order to keep information away from Loki.

“Really?” false Stephen snorted. “That’s the best you can do? If you want Tony to fall for it, you should at least make some effort, he’s not that stupid”.

Suddenly, Tony walked towards false Stephen, and for a second Stephen thought he had believed the trickster.

But then Tony punched Loki. Hard.

“Look, I don’t care what you have gone through during these years away from Earth,” Stark hissed at Loki, who was now in his true form and on the floor. “The last time I saw you, you were a criminal who killed a lot of people and destroyed an entire city. In my eyes, you are still that criminal, and I don’t kill you right now just because Thor is a friend and Stephen is restraining your magic! So you’d better behave!”

Thor had entered the room just in time to see the whole scene. He just rolled his eyes at Loki’s impertinence and went to lift him up from the floor.

Stephen immediately walked to Tony’s side and stood close to him in a protective way.

Loki chuckled while standing up, not minding the blood thread coming from his mouth. “Brother, you didn’t tell me we had a married couple here. I would have prepared an apple pie of congratulations,” he said humorously, ignoring Tony’s whole discourse. 

“Married?” Thor asked confused.

“They are Alpha and Omega,” he stated.

Tony and Stephen stilled, shocked at the correct conclusion of the Asgardian. 

Loki snorted at their surprised expressions. “I get why the sorcerer would recognize me, rather quick I must say, but Stark doesn’t have magic to recognize me so quickly. They knew because of the _scent_ ,” their frown and silence just confirmed what Loki had said, “Tell, how do I smell?”

“Gross,” they answered in unison.

Stephen had to admit it: Loki was very perceptive. Underestimating his knowledge would be a big mistake. He had lived much more time than a normal human being; it should not be surprising that he knew about Alphas and Omegas, considering how familiar was Odin with the matter, too.

“Wow, that’s awesome,” Thor said beaming, the subject didn’t seem to be strange for him either, “When I was a kid I wanted to be an Alpha, they were formidable warriors,” he said with a grin on his face, watching Stephen with admiration. “Then I discovered that you had to be born an Alpha and that I couldn’t just become one,” he said pouting, then he looked at Tony, “I mean, being an Omega is not bad, that’s not what I’m saying, Alpha or Omega is great,” he nodded reassuringly. After an awkward pause, he showed them a thump up.

Tony and Stephen glanced at each other.

“I thought you wanted to be a Valkyrie,” Loki said casually to his brother, ignoring their guests.

Thor nodded in confirmation. “An Alpha Valkyrie”. 

“And what about-?”

“We are not a couple,” Stephen informed, interrupting their pointless conversation.

Thor and Loki bodily turned to look at them.

And then, they laughed.

Tony and Stephen just frowned at them in silence. What was so funny?

The Asgardian brothers stopped laughing when they saw their unamused expressions.

“Wait, are you serious?” Loki asked incredulously.

“They are serious,” Thor mumbled just as surprised.

Loki looked at Thor. Thor looked at Loki.

And they started laughing again.

Tony glanced at Stephen with a long-suffering expression, making an obvious silent request. Stephen nodded and opened a portal to leave that place with Tony.

He left with the feeling that those two knew something he didn’t, and that was a little disturbing, but he decided to ignore it for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you thought for a moment I would go to the Stephen vs Steve plot, lol, never. Poor Steve, that would be the death of him.  
> Pepper aproves, though she's still sad about it because she's just human.  
> Thor and Loki are lil' shites, but adorable lil' shites.
> 
> Does Stephen roar? lmao, maybe.  
> Will another Omega or Alpha appear in the future? Will see...
> 
> Currently working on my other fic! the document was lost and I had to rewrite it which was very frustrating, so I decided to write this one instead to give myself a push. Hope you all enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!


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